Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc., the world's two largest mobile-phone makers, widened their lead in the market for handsets as demand in Asia helped increase unit sales by 22 percent in the third quarter.

Nokia's market share rose to 35.1 percent from 32.5 percent a year earlier, Stamford, Connecticut-based researcher Gartner Inc. said in a statement. Motorola's share rose to 20.6 percent from 18.7 percent. Samsung Electronics Co.'s market share fell to 12.2 percent from 12.5 percent as sales grew at a slower pace than at Nokia and Motorola.

As a result of increases for Nokia and Motorola and the growth in Asia, Gartner raised its full-year sales forecast to 986 million units from its previous forecast of 960 million units. Third-quarter sales in Asia grew 55 percent. Nokia gained market share in every region except North America by selling the widest variation of products, Gartner said.

``More attention to the emerging markets and so having more, cheaper phones on the market is obviously driving sales,'' said Carolina Milanesi, principal research analyst at Gartner.

Espoo, Finland-based Nokia increased its market share in every region except North America. The company regained the top spot in Latin America after losing it to Motorola a year ago, Gartner said. Nokia sold 88.1 million units in the quarter.

``Although Nokia has been criticized for lacking in the mid- tier, they still have the widest portfolio,'' Milanesi said. The companies that made large gains were able to ``tap into those regions that are not saturated.''

Shares Gain

Nokia shares rose 2.3 percent to 16.14 euros in Helsinki, bringing the gain this year to 4.5 percent. Shares of Ericsson AB, which owns half of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, fell 0.5 percent to 28.1 kronor in Stockholm. Motorola shares gained 38 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $22.41 at 11:56 a.m. in New York.

Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola also lost ground in other markets, including Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Gartner said. Motorola sold 51.9 million units.

While Seoul-based Samsung lost market share, the company kept its No. 3 position by increasing sales, though at a slower pace than Nokia and Motorola.

``If you look at the vendors in the third quarter, Samsung was back,'' Milanesi said. She said Samsung struggled in the first half of the year. She said the 30.6 million units sold by Samsung was a ``healthy'' sales figure.

LG, Benq Fall

Sony Ericsson, in fourth place, increased sales and raised its market share to 7.7 percent from 6.7 percent. In the No. 5 spot was LG Electronics Inc., with a market share falling to 6 percent from 6.5 percent. LG is suffering because it isn't offering enough different phones, Milanesi said.

Benq Corp., Taiwan's biggest cell-phone maker, also lost market share, falling to 2.4 percent from 4.7 percent after the company stopped funding its German handset business. In September, Benq's German unit filed for bankruptcy protection.

There are lots of ``little things'' that will change the mobile industry in the fourth quarter and into next year, Milanesi said. ``Definitely there's a change in respect to content playing a bigger role'' and the addition of more Internet applications on phones, she said.

In the fourth quarter there will be a ``bigger focus'' on music, Milanesi said. Next year, mobile phone makers may expand beyond music and will offer additional content, including TV, in an effort to ``reinvent'' the mobile phone.

Milanesi said there is speculation Apple Computer Inc. might introduce a handset next year. ``Are they going to make a phone or not?'' Milanesi said. ``That would spice things up a bit.''

           Units Q3'06  Share Q3'06  Units Q3'05  Share Q3'05
            (millions)   (percent)   (millions)   (percent)
Nokia          88.1         35.1         67.2         32.5
Motorola       51.9         20.6         38.6         18.7
Samsung        30.6         12.2         25.9         12.5
Sony Ericsson  19.4          7.7         13.8          6.7
LG             15.0          6.0         13.5          6.5
Benq            6.1          2.4          9.8          4.7
Others         40.2         16.0         37.9         18.3
Total         251.3        100.0        206.7        100.0

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Armitage in London at aarmitage@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 22, 2006 11:59 EST