China's 1H08 Smart Phone Grows
32.1%; Open Source Pushed September
3, 2008
Smart phone 1H 2008
shipments in China reached 15.67 million sets, up 32.1% YOY, while revenues
reached 37.74 billion Yuan, up 25.7% YOY. Growth has slowed, and CCID
Consulting projects continued weakness for 2H08, due in part by China's
overall macro economy and lack of 3G services.
The push for "open source" mobile phone operating systems.
In 1H08, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Linux are the three main smart phone
operating systems in China, and their combined shipment share exceeds 90%.
However, the push is for open systems.
source: ccid
consulting, July 2008
In June 2008,
Nokia acquired the remaining
52% of Symbian for 264 million Euro, and announced its S60 platform on
Symbian. Symbian supports the running of Motorola UIQ and NTT Docomo MOAP,
which further promotes Symbian open architecture. And entering the open
source fray is Google promoted Android, jointly supported by 34 IC,
technology and mobile vendors. Android is scheduled for release at the end
of 2008.
CCID Consulting believes that open sourced operation systems will promote
smart phone development. IC vendors will be better able to incorporate
software features when designing hardware. Software application vendors can
invest in development and potentially reach a larger customer base. Finally,
mobile phone vendors can reduce operating systems development costs.
Nokia leads in China's smart phone market.
In 1H08, Nokia strengthens its lead with 68.5% smart phone shipment share in
China, followed by a distant second by Motorola at 16.5%. Nokia's smart
phone shipments reached 10.71 million in this period.
Amoi,
Dopod,
Samsung
and Sony Ericsson round out the top six vendors. Other Chinese domestic
vendors Coolpad,
MIO, Lenovo, are within the top ten, offering dual-mode and
GPS navigation functionality.
Nonetheless, Nokia remains strong, and in 2007, announced its strategy to
act more like an Internet company. The Symbian acquisition is just the first
step of this transformation. If Symbian succeeds in being a major software
and applications framework, Nokia will be positioned well in the mobile
Internet and in its leverage with telecom operators.
TD-SCDMA a window of opportunity for China's domestic vendors.
While six Chinese domestic vendors are in the 1H08 top ten in smart phone
shipments, their combined share is only 10.5%. Given the rich functionality
of smart phones, like audio-visual and GPS capabilities, domestic vendors
are more limited in R&D expenditures relative to their multinational
counterparts.
China's upcoming TD-SCDMA will provide new opportunities for domestic
vendors, such as possible domestic patent advantages and favorable
governmental policies. For example, in
China Mobile's TD-SCDMA terminal
projects, ZTE and other domestic vendors have won more than half its share.
However, domestic vendors must continue to improve quality and its brand
promise in order to take advantage of these opportunities.
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Unless otherwise specified,
all information provided is sourced from CCID Consulting.
