Telecoms, Mobiles, 5G, Satellites etc. 01 (May 08 - May 21)

[winston]

China's 3G mobile users up 44.463M in 1Q
2013-04-19

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reported that, for the first quarter, the 3G mobile phone users in the Mainland registered a net increase of 44.463 million to a total of 277 million, marking a penetration rate of 24.2% in the mobile phone users.

For the first quarter, a net increase of 33.566 million mobile phone users was registered nationwide, an increase of 996,000 over the same period last year in terms of growth, to a total of 1.146 billion.

The net increase in March was 13.678 million, hitting the new monthly high.

Source: AAStocks Financial News

[winston]

Chinese Telecom Sector

Big two coy on 4G over market share concerns

China Mobile's two closest competitors in the mainland market, are reluctant to invest and take part in the development of the homegrown fourth generation network, on fears it may hurt market share.

But analysts warn that while slower buildup of 4G facilities could be positive in the short term for cash flow at China Telecom (0728) and China Unicom (0762), this may reduce their share of the national mobile data service sector.

China Mobile is the biggest spender in the development of the 4G, or TD -LTE, service. Of the 190 billion yuan (HK$239.3 billion) in capital expenditure for this year, 41.7 billion yuan have been allocated to building the 4G network.

Its two smaller rivals, however, have stayed passive. Unicom chairman Chang Xiaobing insists that the more internationally accepted FDD-LTE technology will be used to provide 4G service.

That is because it will need a modest 10 billion yuan annually for the next few years to upgrade the existing network.

China Telecom could even rent China Mobile's system rather than develop its own, chairman Wang Xiaochu said.

With a large bandwidth reserved for the TD technology, at least one carrier other than China Mobile is expected to receive the license this year.

After shouldering most of the burden for the 3G network, China Mobile is hoping for more support on 4G. But CLSA said Unicom is worried about 4G market share lagging the giant operator.


http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_deta ... 30429&fc=1

[winston]

Samsung handset market share rises to 23.6% in 1Q2013 - survey

A survey conducted by Gartner indicated that global handset sales rose slightly in the first quarter 2013.

The stable sales growth in Asia-Pacific regions offset the slowed growth in other regions. South Korea's Samsung Electronics gained further market share and extended its leads over competitors.

Smartphone made up 49.3% of global handset sales, compared with 34.8% in the first quarter 2012 and 44% in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The market share of Samsung rose another 2.5 percentage points to 23.6%, securing a leading role in the market. Nokia's market share declined 4.9 percentage points to 14.8%, while Apple's added 1.2 percentage points to 9%.


Source: AAStocks Financial News

[iam802]

This article is worth noting. Does smartphone still has trajectory growth in it?

Specifically, in markets like India and China, are we still having huge growths? And does it allow space for a Number 3 vendor?

Remember XiaoMi that Temasek invested in? While they are fairly successful in China, the sales figure is no where near Samsung. Their global rollout is also slow. Something to ponder about.

---
Confusion Rules On Samsung's Galaxy S4 Sales, With Warning For iPhone 5S

http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaugh ... iphone-5s/

[iam802]

On top of this article to show the plateau for smartphone growth, I recall another that highlights that the number of mobile apps that are free is increasing.

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High-End Smartphone Boom Ending as Price Drop Hits Apple

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/201 ... apple.html

The smartphone has crossed the line from shiny new technology to ubiquitous commodity.

App-laden, Web-surfing phones have surged in popularity over the past half-decade and generated $293.9 billion in sales last year alone. They are now used by more than 1 billion people around the world. With more than half of mobile users in the U.S. and developed countries owning a smartphone, and consumers in emerging markets including China and India gravitating toward cheaper models, demand is slowing for high-end devices.

The average price of a smartphone has plunged to $375 from $450 since the beginning of 2012, IDC estimates. That drop has already threatened revenue growth and profit margins at Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), and could further squeeze companies like Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) and BlackBerry that were counting on new products to revive sales. Beneficiaries include up-and-comers, such as Huawei Technologies Co. and Lenovo Group Ltd. (992), which specialize in low-priced gear.

“The days of great growth in the high end of the market are gone,” said Michael Morgan, an analyst at ABI Research. “It’s the Chinese companies who know how to survive on tiny margins that are ready for the fight that’s about to ensue.”

The decline in average smartphone prices is akin to what happened in the personal-computer industry in the late 1990s, according to former EMachines Inc. Chief Executive Officer Stephen Dukker. Back then, millions of people who wanted to get online for the first time snapped up cheap new PCs from EMachines and other low-cost providers, dragging down once-stable PC prices to $1,026 in 2002 from $1,898 in 1996, according to IDC.

Feeling Pinch

Apple, Samsung and other companies relying on sales of expensive phones are already feeling the pinch. In June, Samsung lost more than $25 billion in market capitalization, greater than the value of Sony Corp. (6758), as analysts trimmed projections for Samsung’s high-end Galaxy S4 smartphone, which costs $200 when sold as part of a two-year wireless package, or about $630 without a carrier subsidy.

“The market is becoming less about speeds and feeds, and more about price,” said Kevin Restivo, an analyst at IDC in Toronto. “More people don’t need to be overwhelmed by a phone, so long as it’s good enough.”

HTC Corp. (2498), Taiwan’s largest smartphone maker, missed analysts’ sales and profit estimates for its second quarter amid disappointing sales of its HTC One handset, which costs $200 with a package, or $600 to $700 without one. On July 12, carriers cut the price of BlackBerry’s poor-selling Z10 to $50 from $200 -- just six months after it was introduced.

IPhone Estimates

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, is predicted to report on July 23 that fiscal third-quarter revenue was little changed from a year earlier, based on the average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg, mainly because of slowing iPhone sales. That would be the worst sales performance since 2003’s second quarter, when revenue declined 1.3 percent.

T. Michael Walkley, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity Inc., last month lowered his estimate for iPhone sales for fiscal 2014 to 173 million from 181 million. Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment on iPhone sales.

Falling prices and the popularity of products with lower margins such as the iPad mini are beginning to hit Apple’s profitability. While the company makes a gross margin of more than 50 percent on the iPhone 5, sold for more than $600 to carriers, it has sold millions of older models in recent years at lower prices at a gross margin of 35 percent or less, according to Brian Marshall, an analyst at ISI Group. Apple’s gross margin fell to 37.5 percent in the period that ended in March, from 47.4 percent a year earlier.

Consumers Content

Apple shares have dropped 39 percent from a record in September amid concerns of slowing iPhone growth and declining margins. They declined 1.6 percent to $424.95 on July 19.

While any innovations may slow the drop in prices -- for example, Apple, Samsung and others are working on wearable, wristwatch-like device, which could stoke sales -- most people are content with the size, shape and features of basic smartphones, ABI’s Morgan said.

Morgan predicts Apple will introduce an iPhone 5S this September that could come in different colors and feature a fingerprint reader so owners wouldn’t have to remember a security code. That won’t be enough to revive iPhone sales growth for long, he said.

Chinese Suppliers

More of those profits will be won in emerging markets, where many consumers have yet to buy their first smartphone. IDC’s Restivo predicts that 66 percent of the 384 million smartphones sold in China next year will cost less than $200, compared with 14 percent of the 153 million phones projected to be sold in the U.S.

China-based suppliers of less-expensive phones, such as Huawei, have been gaining market share, mostly by undercutting HTC, BlackBerry (BBRY) and Nokia on price. Even as its phones priced as low as $100 sell briskly, Huawei’s two-year-old devices unit is profitable, Shao Yang, the company’s vice president of marketing, wrote in an e-mail.

Lenovo has used the same low-price strategy that has made it the world’s largest PC maker to become the fastest-growing smartphone maker in China, said J.D. Howard, vice president of operations and business development for Lenovo’s smartphone, tablet and TV unit.

“It really works in the smartphone business, because some of our rivals have been charging a ridiculous premium,” he said.

PC History

If the history of PCs is any guide, price wars can quickly lead to industrywide carnage. In the years after cheap models such as EMachines’ $600 desktop became popular in 1998, average PC margins narrowed to less than 10 percent from more than 15 percent, not enough to cover the research and other costs at bigger companies, Dukker said.

As margins shrank and losses mounted, PC makers merged and divested the commodity business. Onetime leader Compaq Computer Corp. was acquired by Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) in 2002, and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) sold its PC business to Lenovo in 2005. Gateway Inc. purchased EMachines in 2004, only to be bought by Acer Inc. (2353) in 2007.

The two smartphone powerhouses, Apple and Samsung, are better-positioned than Compaq and IBM were in PCs. While most of its marketing in the U.S. focuses on high-end devices like the Galaxy 4S, Samsung sells hundreds of models at all price points. As one of the largest manufacturers of chips, displays and other smartphone parts, Samsung can reach lower price points more easily than rivals who must buy those components -- often from Samsung itself.

Strong Ecosystem

Apple’s strong brand and ecosystem of music, services and more than 800,000 applications should help it maintain its large customer base, according to David Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School.

The company has also shown it can profitably appeal to thriftier shoppers with older iPhone models. About half of the iPhones sold by Verizon Wireless in recent quarters were iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S models, which Verizon and other carriers sell for $99, or give to customers who agree to a two-year contract. More recently, Apple has helped carriers run trade-in programs that give shoppers as much as $200 in credit toward an iPhone 5 if they hand in their existing iPhone.

Without these efforts, Apple would have lost even more market share to Samsung and other makers of smartphones running Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android software, Yoffie said.

“As growth increasingly comes from emerging markets, Apple is not going hold share,” Yoffie said. “An evolution in strategy is definitely necessary. They can’t stay where they are.”

[winston]

Americans' phones grow as Internet connection: survey

AFP - A majority of Americans use their mobile phones to access the Internet, and a growing number use their handsets as their primary online device, a survey showed Monday.

The Pew Research Center survey found 63 percent of mobile phone owners now use their phone to go online. And because 91 percent of Americans now own a cell phone, this means that 57 percent are "cell Internet users."

The proportion of cell owners who use their phone to go online has doubled since 2009, Pew found.

The survey also found 34 percent of these mobile Internet users use their phones as their primary Internet device, instead of a desktop, laptop or tablet computer.

These "cell-mostly Internet users," account for 21 percent of the total mobile phone owner population, and are most likely to be young adults, non-whites, and those with relatively low income and education levels, the survey found.

Prior Pew studies have found some 56 percent of US adults own a smartphone, which offers easy Internet access.

The latest report found 85 percent of mobile phone owners in the 18-29 age ground use their handset to go online. That compared with 73 percent in the 30-49 age group and 51 percent in the 50-64 age category.

And in the 18-29 age group, nearly half of those with mobile phones say that is their primary device for the Internet.

Some 74 percent of African-American mobile phone owners are cell Internet users, as are 68 percent of Hispanics with mobile phones, the survey found.

Those with lower incomes were far more likely to use their phone as their primary Internet device: this was the case for 45 percent of those with an annual income of less than $30,000, compared with 27 percent of those with $75,000 or more.

The report was based on a survey of 2,252 adults from April 17 to May 19, with a margin of error estimated at 2.3 percentage points for the full group and 2.5 percent for the group using their phones to go online.


Source: AFP

[winston]

IDC sees 2013 smartphone shipment up 40%
Sep 5, 2013

IDC expected global smartphone shipment will escalate by 40% to 1 billion units in 2013, due to increasing demands from emerging markets, higher subsidies provided by carriers and expanding market share of smartphones priced below US$200.

IDC estimated growth in smartphone shipment will remain strong, reaching 1.7 billion units in 2017. The market size of smartphone around the globe was projected to expand by 7.3% in 2013.


AAStocks Financial News

[winston]

Matthew Kwok-Price war in mainland mobile market expected to intensify
2014-06-24

Matthew Kwok, chief strategist at China Yinsheng Wealth Management, said according to the latest research report by Sino Market Research, Coolpad overtook Samsung and Apple in market share of 4G smartphones in China in May, ranking top with its market share reaching 23.1%, followed by Samsung's 18.8% and Apple's 15.7%.

LENOVO GROUP (00992.HK) 0.000 (0.000%) Short selling $34.73M; Ratio 12.301% ranked fourth with market share of 10.7%, followed by Huawei and ZTE (00763.HK) 0.000 (0.000%) Short selling $973.69K; Ratio 1.973% .

COOLPAD GROUP (02369.HK) 0.000 (0.000%) 's sales grew 1.3% month-on-month in May, and currently, it is selling six models of 4G smartphones on its own website at prices ranging from RMB1,099 to RMB1,999, which are less expensive than Samsung's and Apple's 4G phones.

With the low-price strategy, Coolpad succeeded in capturing a bigger market share. As a number of mobile phone makers will launch new 4G models in the futures, the price war is expected to get much intense.

The implications on gross margin performance and change of market share should be noted.

Source: AAStocks Financial News

[winston]

China's Xiaomi smartphone shipments nearly quadruple in first half

BEIJING (Reuters) - Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone maker valued at $10 billion last year, saw smartphone shipments for the first half of 2014 surge to nearly four times higher than in the same period last year.

The Beijing-based Xiaomi shipped 26.1 million handsets in the first six months of the year, it said in a press release on Wednesday. This was more than it shipped in the whole of 2013 and almost quadruple the 7.03 million units for the first half of last year.

Sales for the first six months rose 149 percent from a year ago to 33 billion yuan ($5.32 billion), Xiaomi said.

Xiaomi, which this year aims to ship 60 million handsets, has rapidly risen to become one of the dominant forces in China's highly competitive smartphone market. It was the sixth biggest smartphone vendor in the world in the first quarter, according to Canalys.

The firm, which bills itself as an Internet company offering services and products via its smartphones, is now looking to expand overseas, particularly into Southeast Asia, India, Brazil and Mexico.

But according to Canalys, 97 percent of its smartphone shipments in the first quarter were still within mainland China, where it is known for its successful online marketing campaigns.

Source: Reuters

[winston]

12 Jan, 2015

Mainland China 2014 mobile phone shipments down 21.9% yoy

CAICT reported that for 2014, the nation's mobile phone shipments fell 21.9% yearly to 452 million units.

In particular, the 2G mobile phone shipments fell 64.4% yearly to 60.497 million units.

3G mobile phone shipments fell 46% yearly to 220 million units;

4G mobile phone shipments equaled 171 million units.

Source: AAStocks Financial News