Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The worldwide market for mobile phones declined 13 percent during the fourth quarter of 2008 as vendors shipped fewer of the devices on weak demand, according to research group IDC.

Handset shipments dropped to 289 million in the quarter from 331 million a year earlier, hurt by weak consumer spending and scarce credit, Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC said in a Business Wire statement.

“The fourth quarter was the perfect storm” and the first half of 2009 should be “very challenging as vendors and distributors grapple with clearing inventory,” Ramon Llamas, an IDC analyst, said in the statement.

IDC warned the mobile-phone market may not recover until 2010. Companies including Motorola Inc., which yesterday said fourth-quarter handset shipments fell by half, are struggling to convince consumers to splurge on new phones after more than half a million people lost their jobs in the U.S. in the past three months.

Motorola, the second-biggest U.S. mobile phone maker, fell 26 cents, or 6.4 percent to $3.78 at 1:11 p.m. on the New York Stock Exchange. Samsung Electronics Co., the Korean phonemaker that is No. 1 in the U.S., rose 5.7 percent in Seoul trading.

To contact the reporters on this story: Demian McLean at dmclean8@bloomberg.netHugo Miller in Toronto at hugomiller@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 4, 2009 13:13 EST