Despite the dragging economic slowdown,market researh firm, ABI Research, claims that 258 million handsets were shipped in the first quarter of 2009. Though the figure represents a whopping 11 percent year-on-year decline, the firm says that the performance has been better than the 253.5 million devices it had expected for the quarter. The firm is also revising its annual shipment forecast from an 8.4 percent decline to an 8 percent decline.