January 26, 2007 | posted by Michael Baxter in IABN |

According to Strategy Analytics, total mobile phone sales reached 1 billion units last year, with the final quarter seeing 300 million units sold, that’s up 22 percent from a year earlier.

Nokia must have been celebrating, for the first time it saw sales pass 100 million units, but the star performer overall was Sony Ericsson. A Strategy Analytics statement said: “A combination of attractive models and cool sub-brands drove shipments to an all-time high. In terms of revenues, Sony Ericsson has become the world’s third largest vendor, overtaking Samsung for the first time.”

At times like this, maybe, we should reverently turn our attention to Apple.

In the final quarter of 2007, the company sold 21 million iPods.

No wonder it was so keen to launch an iPhone.