Promising numbers have been released by two research firms known for keeping an eye on the mobile industry, indicating rising handset sales despite continued economic uncertainty.

According to research done by Strategy Analytics and IDC, global mobile phone sales were up 10% year over year and 11.3% in Q4 2009; with 324 million units shipped, this represents a 10% gain over Q4 2008.

The top spots in the industry were held by Nokia, Samsung and LG respectively with Samsung in particular settings record with a 31% year over year increase. Apple also increased its global market share, shipping 8.7 million iPhones during Q4. Motorola straggled in with a 3.7% market share with Sony Ericsson being the only major manufacturer to lose their hold on existing market share.