OXFORD, United Kingdom—Having suffered more than its rivals in 2001, Siemens is claiming that 2002 will see a change in the cell-phone business that will enable it to regain market share. Last year, the company slipped into fifth place in the worldwide cell-phone rankings, behind Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung.
According to Rudi Lamprecht, Siemens’ board member responsible for cell phones, the company intends to grow faster than the market this year and expects to ship 7 million to 8 million terminals in the first quarter of 2002, compared with 6.9 million in the first quarter last year. This will involve the launch of a large number of new handsets, all featuring support for tri-band, and an increased focus on lower-priced products for the consumer segment.
Lamprecht said that, following the severe restructuring of its cell-phone organization during 2001, Siemens is now capable of reaching a financial breakeven point on less than 30 million units per year. While denying that his division is still looking to partner with one of its major rivals—both Motorola and Toshiba have been closely linked to Siemens in the recent past—he added that Siemens’ third-generation (3G) handsets and infrastructure will become available by the end of 2002, with volume shipment of terminals starting in 2003.
