Emerging economies like China, India and Indonesia are ahead of other advanced countries when it came to buying mobile handsets, said market analyst firm ABI Research.
In its latest report titled “mobile device shipment market data,” the research firm has predicted that the global shipment of mobile phones will have reached 1.34 billion by the end of 2010.
More than anything else, the ABI Research (News - Alert) said the high demand for mobile phones will continue until 2015, reaching a level of 1.7 billion shipments worldwide.
“The Asia-Pacific region currently makes the largest contribution to global handset sales,” said ABI Research Industry Analyst, Celia Bo, in a statement. “Handset sales are projected to nine percent this year compared to 2009, and will account for 38 percent of total shipments. China is clearly a major source of handset demand, but it is not the only one. India and Indonesia are also expanding their domestic demand.”
The Indian handset market is expected to grow from 84.3 million handsets in 2009 to 104 million in 2010, recording a year-over-year growth of 24 percent.
So is the story of Indonesia. ABI Research said many of its 240 million people confidently purchased 33 million handsets in 2009 and that figure is expected to surpass 37 million by the end of 2010. Both markets have traditionally been fertile ground for Nokia (News - Alert) distributors and dealers. In those markets, the Finnish manufacturer has enjoyed a market-share well above its global average.
Nokia has been very effective in producing ultra-low cost handsets that are robust and user-friendly and at the right price-point. However, Nokia has seen its market share declined as middle class consumers in India and Indonesia started to purchase high-end feature phones and smartphones.
As a result, vendors such as Samsung, LG and RIM have made large inroads into the traditional domain of Nokia.
“A number of local handset vendors such as Micromax and Spice Mobile in India, and Nexian and SPC Mobile in Indonesia, are intent on catering to low-end and mid-tier end-users,” noted VP and Practice Director, Kevin Burden. “Their game-plan is to push the envelope on providing increasingly feature-rich handsets at aggressive price-points.”
ABI’s report is inclusive of vendor shipments, ASPs, as well as market share.
Narayan Bhat is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Narayan’s articles, please visit his columnist page.Edited by
Jaclyn Allard
