Nokia’s expected gains off Motorola’s woes may just be taking an additional quarter to take effect. The Finnish handset giant said today it expects its overall global handset share to increase sequentially in the second quarter, rising above the 36% market share it reported in the first three months of the year.

Motorola saw its handset share fall almost 6 percentage points to 17.5% in the first quarter, as declining sales of the RAZR and poor performance of its other phone lines took their toll. Nokia and Moto’s other competitors were largely expected to pick up the slack, but its market share remained flat quarter over quarter, while Samsung, LG Electronics and Sony Ericsson all made gains. Nokia said at its last earnings call, that it expected the same stasis in the second quarter, but today it revised that outlook.

Nokia explained that excess inventory in the market from its competitors offset any gains it would have potentially made in the first quarter, but those inventories have cleared, leaving the way open for it to capture greater short terms sales. It also said it expects to increase its overall market share in 2007 from the roughly 35% share it enjoyed last year.