Leading mobile phone makers lose market share

The Galaxy S from Samsung (right)
and Apple's iPhone 3G,
being demonstrated in South Korea

The world's leading mobile phone makers are losing market share to non-brand manufacturers, according to research. Analysts at Gartner say smaller, Asian companies accounted for a third of worldwide handset sales in July, August and September. Nokia is still the biggest seller of mobiles, followed by Samsung and LG.

Meanwhile, Google's Android operating system has sharply increased its share and is now the second most popular mobile operating system after Symbian.

Rising Sales

Gartner says 417 million phones were sold globally during the period - an increase of 35% from the year before.

All of the large manufacturers, except Apple, lost market share to companies that make handsets without a brand.

Apple leapfrogged Research In Motion, which makes Blackberry, to fourth place.

"White-box manufacturers continued to expand their reach outside of China into markets such as India, Russia, Africa and Latin America," said Carolina Milanesi from Gartner.

"We firmly believe this phenomenon will not be short-lived as we still see a continued need for non-3G devices."

China's Huawei and ZTE increased their share of sales, as did HTC of Taiwan.

The number of phones which use Google's Android operating system has been rising rapidly, challenging established rivals.

Android was on 25% of all phones sold during the period, overtaking Microsoft Windows Mobile and Apple's iOS.

Last year, the equivalent figure was 3.5%.

"Google is maintaining a fast pace," said the Gartner report. "Each version brings new features and polish to Android, and the level of innovation is a major innovator."



Courtesy : BBC

Top mobile phone makers

• 1. Nokia


• 2. Samsung


• 3. LG


• 4. Apple


• 5. Research In Motion

Source: Gartner

Read more ...

Govt should use mobile phones to tackle poverty: UNCTAD

By Azhar Razak

Governments and policymakers in developing countries should take full advantage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to combat poverty reduction, a recent research report has highlighted. ‘The Information Economy Report 2010’ prepared by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) highlights that mobile phones will be the best medium to combat poverty, as the penetration rate for this medium of communication is significantly higher than that of other ICTs and is even used by the people at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP).

“A recent study by LIRNEasia of some farmers near Dambulla found that they were able to obtain a premium of 23.4% on the average daily market prices at the Dambulla Dedicated Economic Centre (DDEC) by having access to timely and accurate market price information via their mobile phones,” the senior research manager at the regional policy think tank LIRNEasia, Sriganesh Loganathan, told a recent press conference organised to release the UNCTAD report.

He said that poor people often lack information that is critical for their work, for example, market-prices (such as the service offered by Tradenet in Sri Lanka), income earning opportunities, crop advisory, weather forecasts, agricultural best-practices, health, finance and even information on disaster risk reduction.

“There is an informational dimension to poverty. Lack of access to information increases the vulnerability of the poor. However, the rapid diffusion of mobile phone technology is making it possible for poor people to have access to this information as well as to engage in interactive communication,” Loganathan said.

Meanwhile, Founding Chair and CEO of LIRNEasia Professor Rohan Samarajiva outlined the UNCTAD report that micro-enterprises in low-income countries are rapidly adopting mobile phones as key tools for advancing their commercial activities.

“In more and more low-income countries, it has been found that people at the BOP such as farmers, fishermen and small-time entrepreneurs are using mobile phones to assist their livelihoods, as the technology is now simple and affordable enough,” he said adding that new jobs have arisen catering to local demand for mobile phones and the associated applications and services.

“Many low-income people are selling airtime or mobile money services on the street or in shops as this work can be done by people with few formal skills,” Professor Samarajiva analysed.

Over the past few years, the penetration rate of mobile phones in the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) has surged from 2 to 25 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.

In Sri Lanka, it has been estimated that more than 75 percent of households have some kind of phone in them.

“However, during our survey in Sri Lanka we also found that only 50 percent of the time spent on mobile phones is being used for productive purposes whereas in countries like Bangladesh and Philippines it is over 90 percent,” LIRNEasia Senior Research Manager Ayesha Zainudeen said.

Therefore, she suggested that the attitude towards mobile phones need changing in Sri Lanka and that we should encourage the evolvement of trade facilities (through mobiles) such as Cellbazaar in Bangladesh to make productive use of mobiles.

Multiple SIM usage

Meanwhile, Professor Samarajiva commenting on the recent decision taken by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) to limit the number of SIM cards registered under one individual to five, said that the authority should not have placed such a restriction since it curtails consumer choice but should put in place a central database where mobile users can check on how many SIM cards have been registered under their specific names which could increase the overall transparency in the system.

“Pakistan has now put in place such a database and it is now possible for users there to check how many SIM cards are registered under their names,” he said.

He elaborated that during a survey in Pakistan, it was revealed that a person who was using only two SIMs for himself had found that another 90 SIMs were registered falsely under his name when he had checked the database.

“It as an issue for national security as well,” Professor Samarajiva noted.

LIRNEasia launched UNCTAD’s Information Economy Report 2010: ICTs, Enterprises and Poverty Alleviation in Colombo last week. It is learnt that senior researchers from LIRNEasia had also been involved in the preparation of the UNCTAD’s report.

Read more ...

Apple launches online shop in China

Apple introduced the Apple Store in China (apple.com.cn), an online shop for Apple products including the iPhone 4 and iPad. Apple's online store in China features free shipping, free personalized engraving on any iPod or iPad, and the ability to custom configure any Mac with just a few clicks. The online Apple Store also offers a wide selection of third-party products and is the only place online to buy the iPod nano RED. The online Apple Store also lets eligible students and faculty members take advantage of special education pricing on Apple products. Also starting today, customers in China can access Apple's App Store in Simplified Chinese, with localized featured apps and charts of the most popular paid and free apps in China. The App Store offers iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users access to a catalog of apps with over 300,000 apps in 20 categories including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.

Read more ...

India to start MNP testing in Haryana

India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will begin mobile number portability (MNP) testing for the Haryana circle on 8 November and will go live on 25 November, reports the Business Standard. For the rest of the circles, it will be implemented in phases. DoT had given licences to Syniverse Technologies and MNP Interconnection Telecom Solutions to implement MNP. In March 2009, the Ministry of Home Affairs revoked the FIPB approval to Telcordia, citing security concerns. DoT has now asked Syniverse to be ready for implementation of MNP across the country, as it may have to withdraw the licence to Telcordia.

Read more ...