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Communications & Networks |
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Mobile Phone Market In China:
Massive Scale Driven By Demand And Technology April 15, 2008 China's mobile phone shipments in 2007 reached 150 million, growing 24.1% over 2006. If gray-market phones are included, CCID Consulting estimates total shipments to exceed 200 million.
Extraordinary scale. Over 60% of Chinese mobile phone purchases (over 90 million) in 2007 were replacement purchases. Shorter product lifecycles, increased functionality of new products, better price-performance, and customized service provider offerings all drove replacement purchases. There were over 86 million new Chinese mobile phone subscribers in 2007, a new record, which averaged over 7 million per month. New subscriber growth came mainly from more rural tier 3 and 4 cities, stimulated by mobile phone vendors' and service providers' outreach efforts to realize those markets. In 2007, there were 547 million mobile subscribers in China, which is 1.8 times the total population in the U.S. With 3G, more segmented and varied product and service offerings will even further drive growth. More offerings to fuel further growth; style important. China's mobile phones currently feature popular color screens, cameras and music. Development of future integrated 3C—Computing, Communications, Consumer—offerings will enhance/enable functions such as MP4, mobile TV, Blue tooth, GPS and WIFI. Some functions may not be popularized. Realizing new functions currently reside more at the service provider systems level, rather than mobile phone hardware itself. The Apple iPhone demonstrated that the Internet is a platform from which new mobile functions will arise. Motorola promotes the vision of "pocket Internet to realize the wireless world." Regardless, wireless access to enable practical and entertaining function serve to fuel even more China market growth. Finally, vendors make phone style important and trendy. Samsung offers the sliding phone, while Motorola offers the super-slim design. A large market, commoditization, lowering prices, and channel competition all serve to intensify mobile phone vendor competition. Vendor shakeout will cause the eventual shift from focusing more on profits rather than market share. China's 3G launch may serve to further enable stronger vendors to offer even more in their products, as well as solidified partnerships among vendors, channels and service providers. For more information Please contact us for these and other China-related data, information and products. Unless otherwise specified, all information provided is sourced from CCID Consulting. |
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