• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, November 2, 2009

New data suggests worldwide mobile phone sales may finally be rebounding. Mobile phone shipments totaled 287.1 million units in the third quarter, down 6% from a year ago, but up 5.6% from the second quarter, according to technology research firm IDC.

That marks the first sign improvement since the start of the economic crisis last year. "During the third quarter, we saw a number of channels promoting older devices at significantly lower prices. For many, this was enough to spur demand and push volumes higher, said Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst with IDC. That should set the stage for further gains in the fourth quarter as manufacturers launch their flagship devices to meet pent-up demand.

The quarterly uptick wasn't enough to reverse Nokia's declining fortunes, however. The mobile phone giant reported a 20% decrease in revenue as its market share in converged devices dropped from 41% to 35% in the third quarter.

Samsung, by contrast, had a huge quarter, shipping a record 60 million handsets and reaching its goal of moving 200 million units in 2009. It's overall mobile phone market share increased from 17% a year ago to 21%, even as Nokia's slipped to 37.8% from 38.6%.

Motorola fell to fifth place among the top handset makers, with its market share cut nearly in half from 8.3% to 4.7% in the last year. But with the recent launch of the Cliq smartphone and the forthcoming Droid, many are predicting a turnaround for the American manufacturer in 2010 as it rolls out a revamped smartphone lineup under co-CEO Sanjay Jha.