A British market research firm has ranked Nokia as the world's leading seller of mobile devices, ahead of palmOne.

Nokia increased its market share to 28 percent in the first quarter of this year, up from 21 percent in the same period last year, while its rival palmOne's share dropped from 26 percent to nearly 17 percent.

Nokia's ascent comes on the back of sales of its smart phones, which offer personal organizers and can be loaded with different types of software. Nokia sold 1.67 million of the advanced phones, up from 900,000 one year ago.

The survey also shows the total market of mobile devices grew by 41 percent, to just under 6 million units. Global shipments of smart phone products more than doubled, while shipments of hand-helds remained flat.

(CRI June 2, 2004)