TOMB RAIDER ENERGISES ERICSSON SALES
Copyright 2001 www.tombraiderchronicles.com

[ September 1st 2001 ]

A new report from the Gartner analyst firm shows that Ericsson's market share has increased by two percent: from 6.8% to 8.3% in just one quarter. "There is a significant trend behind the number: the transition from GSM to GPRS. Our GPRS phone T39 is selling well, and the Tomb Raider campaign this summer has been successful. The T20 and other models have also sold well," says Peter Bodor, Public Relations Manager, Consumer Products.

Nokia retains the lead by 20 percentage points, with 34.8% of market share. Second-place Motorola has 14.8%. Sony and Ericsson's joint venture will automatically have ten percent of the market.

Gartner analyst Ben Wood told the Swedish newspaper Finanstidningen, "Ericsson has a jump start with Sony, but the new joint venture won't be able to relax for a second. In this market, it's extremely impressive to hold third place for a long time, so if they can stay there and show profitablity, that's an accomplishment in itself."

The Stockholm based communications company earlier reported its inventory of GPRS headsets as used by intrepid British archeologist Lara Croft in Paramount Pictures Tomb Raider adaptation had been exhausted with Lara Croft fans vacuuming the market for the small lightweight devices.

Ericsson will now press ahead with plans to complete its new Bluetooth headset design and expects to replenish the high street within the next two months. Ericsson also used Tomb Raider as a vehicle for launching it's new H610 Web Tablet, a wireless Webpad featuring a touch-screen color matrix display utilizing the Bluetooth Personal Area Network (PAN) and consolidating several communication devices into one portable console.