Cell phone makers face toughest year since 2001

A wave of economic gloom is set to hit mobile phone buyers next year, with a growing number of analysts expecting the once-buoyant market to shrink for the first time since the 2001 crash, a Reuters poll showed. On average, analysts expect global growth to be 3 percent in both the fourth quarter and 2009, compared with well above 10 percent in recent years, although 8 out of 22 analysts said they expect the market to contract next year. In a similar poll just a month ago, only one analyst out of 23 forecast 2009 market sales volumes to fall, and then only slightly.