Nokia Takes 23% of Cell Phone Market in ’98

Nokia controlled 22.9% of the worldwide cellular phone market last year, passing Motorola Inc. to become the No. 1 cell phone maker, according to a Dataquest survey. Motorola held on to 19.8% of the market, while Ericsson accounted for 14.6%, Dataquest said. Overall, 162.9 million cell phones were sold last year, 51% more than 1997, the company said. Finland-based Nokia boosted its cell phone shipments about 82%, spurred by strong demand for a new line of lighter, sleeker digital phones in the U.S. and Europe. Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola and Stockholm-based Ericsson have both struggled to get new digital models to market quickly. Japan’s Panasonic took the No. 4 spot among cell phone makers with 8.2% market share, and France’s Alcatel was No. 5 with 4.3%, San Jose, Calif.-based Dataquest said.