$79.3 mln of IP phones sold in Europe in Q1 2005, shipments up 17.9%

In Q1 2005, the European IP telephone market increased to a value of $79.3 mln, compared with $77.1 mln in Q4 2004, IDC says. Shipments of IP telephones experienced higher growth than that of revenue; IP telephone shipments increased by 17.9% from roughly 250,900 units in Q4 2004 to around 297,500 units in Q1 2005, while revenue for IP telephones only increased by 2.9% because of price erosion. This trend is expected to continue to impact unit prices and shipment numbers over the coming quarters. IP telephones are increasingly being deployed across multiple vertical market segments in Q1 2005, for example in the pharmaceutical, automotive, and transport segments. Q1 2005 was again a quarter of high growth for Cisco, and the company managed to maintain the highest market share in both revenue and unit shipments. In total, Cisco increased its shipment market share by 0.6% to 52%. Avaya finished second in the quarter, and increased its shipment market share by 0.9% to 12.6%.