Even mobile phone sales tanked in Q4

Not even the gadget freaks can keep this economy from taking a bite out of the mobile phone makers.

According to this news report, sales of new phones actually dropped in the fourth quarter:

Mobile phone sales grew by six percent in 2008 over the previous year but fell nearly five percent in the fourth quarter as the global economy weakened, market research firm Gartner said on Tuesday.

Worldwide mobile phone sales totaled 1.22 billion units in 2008, up from 1.15 billion in 2007, Gartner said.

In the fourth quarter, however, worldwide mobile phone sales declined 4.6 percent compared with the same period in 2007 to 314.7 million units, and the top five mobile phone vendors all saw a drop in fourth quarter sales.

The horror: Making do with a year-old phone

More details can be found in the gory Gartner press release.