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Better than expected earnings from Nokia, the largest cell phone and smartphone maker in the world, helped boost tech shares yesterday. Why? Because Nokia's shares soared more than 8 percent to a five-year high after the company's earnings and margins blew past analysts' estimates.

For the quarter that began in April and ended on June 30th, sales increased by more than 28 percent—12.6 billion euros ($17.22 billion) for this year from 9.8 billion euros for last year—mostly due to strong mobile handset sales. Total Cell phone and smartphone shipments grew 29 percent, to 100.8 million units.

Nokia's net profit for last quarter more than doubled, rising to 2.82 billion euros (about $3.85 billion) from 1.14 billion euros during the same period in 2006.

According to the mobile phone giant, its total share of the global cell phone market is now at 38 percent, up from 34 percent for the same quarter last year.

Nokia's fortunes are in stark contrast to Motorola's, a company that posted a loss last month, due mostly to a large dip in sales. Things are so bad for Motorola; it has to cede its position as the number two mobile phone vendor in the world to Samsung, falling to third spot.