CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little "Business Buzz" right now. Worldwide cell phone sales are on the rise, which is good news for consumers, at least we think so. Why? Carrie Lee live at the Nasdaq market site.</s>CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it could mean pricing pressure. The top six vendors for cell phones control about 80 percent of the market share. But there are some very aggressive Asian rivals now, and that could very well put some pricing pressure on the phone prices as they try to gain market share. That said, 2003 a very bullish year for cell phone sales, exceeding even some of the most bullish expectations, over 510 million handsets were sold. The number is expected to top 560 million in 2004. Two things happening. People in emerging markets, places like China, India, Brazil, they are buying cell phones for the first time, lower end models, and then in places like the United States or Japan, people are upgrading. So good news for the cell phone makers. And if pricing pressure kicks in, then that is going to be good news for consumers as well -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Understand. Quick look at the futures.</s>LEE: Things looking very weak this morning, especially for technology issues. Cisco Systems, the networking equipment company, reporting profits last night after the bell. They did OK in the recent quarter, but they say that the rebound in technology spending does remain tentative. Not exactly music to tech investors' ears so that stock is looking weaker and futures overall looking very weak.</s>COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Carrie Lee. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Mobile Madness: Global Cell Phone Sales Boom in 2003