Glance into any public place and it will come as no surprise to discover that global sales of mobile phones are still growing.

Around 229 million handsets were sold worldwide during the second quarter of 2006, up by 40 million on the same period last year, according to a report by analyst firm Gartner.

The top two manufacturers, Nokia and Motorola, account for over half of the sales and are pulling away from the pack. 

Nokia actually stretched its lead marginally from 31.6 per cent in 2005 to 33.6 per cent this year. But US rival Motorola jumped to a 21.9 per cent share, compared to 17.7 per cent in 2005. Everyone loves their Razr and Slvr phones it seems. 

Third-placed Samsung fell to an 11.1 per cent share, but Sony Ericsson grew to 6.7 per cent, overtaking LG Electronics which dropped to 6.3 per cent. 

But while even previously depressed Japan managed a nine per cent increase, North America was the only region to show a decline, where sales fell 3.5 per cent.

The western European region grew by nine per cent, but the biggest boom was in the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa regions where sales jumped 20 per cent.