Cell Phone Distributors Project Higher Sales in Ramadan

JAKARTA (IFT) – A number of cell phone distributors estimate a 30 percent sales increase during Ramadan and Idul Fitri this year. The biggest sales are expected from smartphones and feature phones.

Andy Jobs, Chief Marketing Officer of the Selular Group, said that the company expects 30 to 40 percent sales growth during the holiday. Ramadan and Idul Fitri are peak seasons for sales distributors, as retail stores provide special discounts to attract customers with their holiday budgets.

The Selular Group aims to have approximately 30 new stores by the end of this year. This will be the driving force for the company's targeted revenue increase of 30 percent.

The Selular Group was purchased by Spice i2i Ltd (Singapore) for US$ 175 million in June.

Another mobile phone distributor, PT Telesindo Shop, also projects a 30 percent sales growth during Ramadan and Idul Fitri. Sales value is expected to rise between 40 to 45 percent.

David Tirtawijaya, Retail Director of Telesindo Shop, said that the peak in sales usually occurs two or three days before Idul Fitri. In this year’s Ramadan, Telesindo Shop focuses on the sales of Android touchscreen phones.

In the first half of the year, Telesindo Shop recorded a rising sales trend of between 15 to 20 percent. About 10 percent of the sales growth was contributed by international brands, while the remainder was contributed by Chinese brands.

In the second half, David estimates a 20 to 25 percent sales growth. There are a number of large events in the semester that will encourage people to purchase telecom products, such as school holidays, Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year. This year, the company targets to earn Rp 5 trillion in revenues. The company will increase its resellers from 120 thousand to 200 thousand stores this year. (*)

Nexian Expects to Sell 3 Million Phones in Second Half

Since it started operating in 2006, Nexian has sold 10 million cell phones, and about 95 percent of them are QWERTY phones. (IFT/STANLIE)

 



JAKARTA  (IFT) - PT Metrotech Jaya Community, vendor of local brand, Nexian, aims to sell of 3 million units of mobile phones in the second half of this year. Since it started operating in 2006, the company has sold 10 million cell phones, and about 95 percent of them are QWERTY phones.

Andy Jobs, Chief Marketing Officer of Nexian, said that the company uses multiple marketing strategies to meet the target. First, the company will add more product models, applications, features, and data content.

This year, Nexian will focus on selling touch screen phones. The company aims for this year’s mobile phone portfolio to consist of 75 percent touch screen phones.

Last week, Nexian launched the touch-screen Nexian Pad NX-G311 at affordable prices, marketed to the youth segment. The company is targeting to sell 400 thousand units of the product by the end of the year.

" In the second half, we will market a minimum of six Android touch-screen phones with affordable prices," Andy said.

Another marketing strategy is to enter the community. At the beginning of August, Nexian started marketing the Nexian Hikmah for the Muslim community. The company expects to sell 300 thousand units of Nexian Hikmah during Ramadan.

Nexian’s sales distribution is supported by Selular Shop, Nexian Shop and a number of modern channels available all over  Indonesia. Nexian is currently listed as a major local brand with 40 percent market share.

Nexian’s competitor Nexian, PT TiPhone Mobile  Indonesia, focuses on marketing phones with dual SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards. David Tirtajaya, Director of Retail at TiPhone, targets to sell 200 thousand units of its products per month this year.

According to David, TiPhone has 5 percent share in the local brand market. TiPhone Mobile distributes its products through Telesindo Shop, which has more than 500 outlets.

According to the IFT Research Department, the retail industry of cellular phone this year has good potential judging from the increasing shipment of mobile phones to  Indonesia. Phone vendors are also continuing to market smartphones with a variety of Android operating system.

International Data Corporation (IDC)  Indonesia  reported mobile phone shipments grew 13.5 percent this year to 37 million units from 32 million units last year.

Smartphones has 17 percent share of the total projected shipment or about 6.3 million units. Low-end phones continue to dominate the market. (*)

[Google CEO Larry Page blogs that the company has agreed to acquire Motorola. The acquisition will strengthen Google's patent portfolio in efforts to protect Android from " anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies." ]

Since its launch in November 2007, Android has not only dramatically increased consumer choice but also improved the entire mobile experience for users. Today, more than 150 million Android devices have been activated worldwide—with over 550,000 devices now lit up every day—through a network of about 39 manufacturers and 231 carriers in 123 countries. Given Android’s phenomenal success, we are always looking for new ways to supercharge the Android ecosystem. That is why I am so excited today to announce that we have agreed to acquire Motorola.

Motorola has a history of over 80 years of innovation in communications technology and products, and in the development of intellectual property, which have helped drive the remarkable revolution in mobile computing we are all enjoying today. Its many industry milestones include the introduction of the world’s first portable cell phone nearly 30 years ago, and the StarTAC—the smallest and lightest phone on earth at time of launch. In 2007, Motorola was a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance that worked to make Android the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. I have loved my Motorola phones from the StarTAC era up to the current DROIDs.

In 2008, Motorola bet big on Android as the sole operating system across all of its smartphone devices. It was a smart bet and we’re thrilled at the success they’ve achieved so far. We believe that their mobile business is on an upward trajectory and poised for explosive growth.

Motorola is also a market leader in the home devices and video solutions business. With the transition to Internet Protocol, we are excited to work together with Motorola and the industry to support our partners and cooperate with them to accelerate innovation in this space.

Motorola’s total commitment to Android in mobile devices is one of many reasons that there is a natural fit between our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers everywhere.

This acquisition will not change our commitment to run Android as an open platform. Motorola will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. We will run Motorola as a separate business. Many hardware partners have contributed to Android’s success and we look forward to continuing to work with all of them to deliver outstanding user experiences.

We recently explained how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android. The U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene in the results of one recent patent auction to “protect competition and innovation in the open source software community” and it is currently looking into the results of the Nortel auction. Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.

The combination of Google and Motorola will not only supercharge Android, but will also enhance competition and offer consumers accelerating innovation, greater choice, and wonderful user experiences. I am confident that these great experiences will create huge value for shareholders.

I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.

Posted by Larry Page, CEO

Google buys Motorola Mobility for $12.5B

Nokia's Pain is Apple's Gain in Q2 Smartphone Market

By: Vincent Chang | 3rd Aug 2011: 11:17am

­Capitalizing on a 31 percent decline in shipments at longtime market leader Nokia, Apple surged into the No. 1 position in the global smartphone market in the second quarter, according to the new IHS iSuppli Mobile Handset Market Track from information and analysis provider IHS.

Facing strong competition from Apple, Samsung Electronics and No. 5 brand HTC, Nokia posted the worst performance among the leading smartphone brands, with its shipments falling to 16.7 million units, down from 24.2 million in the first quarter, as presented in the table below. Nokia's shipments also were down 30.4 percent from 24 million one year earlier, in the second quarter of 2010.

With the overall smartphone market expanding by 7.5 percent sequentially, Nokia's share of shipments declined to 15.1 percent in the second quarter, down from 23.6 percent in the first quarter. Nokia's smartphone shipments have regressed to their level of two years ago. This caused Nokia to fall to third place, losing the No. 1 ranking for the first time in the history of the smartphone business.

" Nokia's woes in the smartphone market are the result of a double whammy of rising competitive pressures on the outside -- and struggles with its corporate strategy on the inside," said Tina Teng, senior analyst, wireless communications, for IHS. " The Symbian software platform used by Nokia simply isn't competitive against Apple's iOS or the Android operating system used in phones from Samsung and HTC. Meanwhile, the company is facing major challenges throughout its entire mobile handset business -- even outside the smartphone segment -- which caused its sales to decline in most regions of the world in the second quarter."

The sharks circle

Nokia's decline in the second quarter allowed Apple to climb one place to take the No. 1 position, although the company only slightly outperformed the overall smartphone market, with its shipments rising by 9.1 percent sequentially. Samsung ascended to No. 2, up from fourth place in the first quarter, as its shipments surged by 55.6 percent -- the strongest sequential growth among the leading smartphone brands. HTC posted the second best performance among the top brands, with its shipments rising by 24.6 percent compared to the first quarter.

Nokia's woes

Although Nokia had been holding onto the lead in the smartphone market during the last year, the company has been suffering from declining market share in its home European market. The company also has seen overall slowing sales in China. However, the second quarter marked a dramatic plunge in Nokia's China business, with shipments dropping by 52.7 percent.

Beyond Nokia's problems with Symbian, the company also is encountering challenges in its transition to Windows 7 as its principal operating system for smartphones. With the announcement of the transition in early 2011, Nokia eliminated any incentive for consumers and developers to buy into its existing smartphone products, which are based on its Symbian and MeeGo operating systems. Because the Microsoft deal is unlikely to yield any products until late 2011, it is having a further negative impact on the Nokia's already eroding position in smart phones.

Samsung dunks on RIM

Just as Apple capitalized on Nokia's decline to take the No. 1 spot, Samsung seized on a shipment decline at Research In Motion (RIM) to vault to second place in the smartphone market for the second quarter. RIM's shipments declined by 10.8 percent during the period, making it the only other major brand besides Nokia to suffer a sequential decline in shipments. As a result, RIM fell to the fourth ranking, down from third place in the first quarter.

Like Nokia, RIM is losing share to the Android platform as it struggles to develop a complete ecosystem for its operating system and develop a device capturing consumer trends. Most of RIM's market share loses are taking place in Europe and North America.

Meanwhile, Samsung's shipments have surged because of its broad focus on all parts of the smartphone business with its shotgun approach to address all segments and leverage the Android platform. In addition to premium smartphones, Samsung has been offering low-end models that appeal to consumers in China and Latin America, driving up the company's shipments.

Smartphone shipments set to soar

Smartphones represent the fastest-growing and most lucrative segment of the global cellphone business. Because of this, the smartphone has become the central focus for mobile handset makers.

IHS expects smartphone shipments to reach 478 million units by the end of 2011, up 62.4 percent from 2010. In comparison, the overall cellphone business will expand by 13.5 percent for the year.

The average selling price for smartphones ranges from two to five times the average for all mobile phones in 2011.

Click on images to enlarge

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