Sharp and Panasonic Overtake NEC in Domestic Mobile Handset Shipments (SHCAY, MC, NIPNY)

JiJi Press reports that Sharp Corp (SHCAY.PK) achieved a 20.2% increase in 2005 of domestic shipments of mobile handsets. This surge in sales based on hit handsets made for NTT DoCoMo (DCM) and Vodafone Japan, boosted Sharp into the #1 spot for annual domestic shipments of mobile handsets for the first time ever, with 7.55 million shipped for a market share of 16.3% versus a 3rd place ranking and 14.3% market share in 2004. NEC Corp (NIPNY) had been at the top for the past 4-years but was dethroned and pushed down to third place behind Sharp and Matsushita Electric Industrial's (MC) Panasonic consumer brand. This is pure speculation but with Softbank's (SFTBF.PK) agreement to buyout Vodafone Japan, Sharp could be in a great position to add to its market share if its handsets remain popular and as there is increasing interest in what types of services Softbank will offer via its affiliation with Yahoo! Japan (Tokyo: 4689).

1-year chart comparing SHCAY, NIPNY, and MC