Blockbuster mobile phone sales during the holiday season last year propelled shipments to more than 1 billion for all of 2006, market researcher IDC said Thursday.Handset vendors shipped a record-high 294.9 million mobile phones in the last three months of 2006, propelling the full year total to 1.02 billion, according to IDC.The fourth-quarter figure was 20 percent higher than the same period in 2005, while the full-year figure beat the 832.8 million wireless handsets sold in 2005.Developing nations propelled handset sales last year, the market researcher said. Nations in emerging market areas of Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America accounted for a higher portion of mobile phone purchases last year than mature areas such as North America, Japan and Western Europe. Developing nations will continue to widen their lead over modern countries, IDC said. Many people in developing areas still don’t have handsets, and it takes less time and money to build than a landline network, making mobile phones a better choice for less affluent countries, IDC said. Mobile phones are also seen as status symbols in many emerging markets.China, for example, finished 2006 with 461.1 million mobile phone subscribers, adding 67.7 million new users during the year, according to its Ministry of Information Industry. India is also growing fast, increasing subscriber numbers by nearly 74 million new wireless users to end with a total of 149.5 million last year. Despite the big numbers, there is plenty of room to grow. China’s population is estimated at 1.4 billion people now, and India’s was nearly 1.11 billion at the end of last year. -Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service (Taipei Bureau)Related Link: India Nearly Doubles Mobile Phone Use in ’06Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content how-to How to create an effective business continuity plan A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the face of disaster, whether fire, flood, or cyberattack. Here’s how to create a plan that gives your business the best chance of surviving such an By Mary K. Pratt, Ed Tittel, Kim Lindros Dec 07, 2023 11 mins Small and Medium Business Small and Medium Business Small and Medium Business interview WestRock CIDO Amir Kazmi on building resiliency Multidimensional resiliency is vital to setting yourself, your teams, and your organization up for success. Kazmi sets the tone at WestRock by recognizing the pace of change, instilling a learning and growth mindset, and being transparent with his te By Dan Roberts Dec 07, 2023 8 mins IT Strategy Staff Management IT Leadership brandpost Sponsored by FPT Software Time for New Partnership Paradigms to Be Future-fit By Veronica Lew Dec 06, 2023 5 mins Vendors and Providers brandpost Sponsored by BMC Why CIOs should prioritize AIOps in 2024 AIOps empowers IT to manage services by incorporating AI/ML into operations. By Jeff Miller Dec 06, 2023 3 mins IT Leadership Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe