Colors, materials and finishes-aka CMF-have returned to center stage as a conveyor of value, product differentiator and sales clincher. Focused efforts to use CMF to give a handset legs in the market began with face plates nearly a decade ago. And though CMF's role...
Changes in online handset prices keep raising questions for observers: Is the post-holiday retail model one of continued discounting to milk any lingering consumer desires to shop and spend money? Or, does the arrival of a new year offer a chance to regroup and,...
Trying to please everyone is a good gambit when launching a handset business with global ambitions. Somewhere along the way, however, one has to shift gears.Managing sustainable growth and profitability in the handset market can demand investment in original designs, support for a manageable...
Time was when the wireless industry's major, marketshaping impact in the telecom sphere was defined by the number of mobile phones that became substitutes for landline telephones, which historically consumers have relied on for day-to-day communications.Just as Ma Bell back in the day grossly...
Wirefly, the online retailer, is offering mobile handsets at prices that defy gravity.Tis the season, apparently, for free or low-cost offers on the market's leading handsets to erode the last bastions of resistance to signing up for wireless service.The Motorola Inc. Krzr, for instance,...
LG Electronics Inc.-the South Korean home appliance giant and parent of LG Telecom-has replaced its top corporate officer and the head of its telecom unit in an effort to reignite its fortunes in mobile handsets and flat-panel displays, according to media reports.A former corporate...
In the world of wireless handset vendors, there's an increasing divide between the haves and the have-nots. In this case, the having or not-having doesn't revolve around bling, but scale. Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc. have the scale to invest in research and development...
This was supposed to be the year of the music phone, but as the holiday season approaches the home stretch, on-the-go music lovers are still hoping to find dedicated MP3 players in their stockings.U.S. sales of portable digital music players is expected to slow...
'Tis the season to be jolly, especially if you're a consumer checking out online deals from independent retailers. For instance, Wirefly, the online retail face of InPhonic Inc., is offering handsets at prices that defy gravity. The Motorola Inc. Krzr, for instance, only hit...
SEATTLE-In October, new phone buyers most often selected the LG VX8300-a straightforward silver clamshell handset at Verizon Wireless for $50 with Vcast music-download abilities, picture messaging and Bluetooth connectivity-over Motorola Razr models at Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless L.L.C., according to data from M:Metrics.This...
Big-box retailer Best Buy has branched out with a greater emphasis on wireless, opening new stores in the New York metro area that focus exclusively on offering a wide selection of handsets from various carriers. Five of the new stores are stand-alone, and the...
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands-To understand Nokia Corp.'s outlook, one must leave the United States behind. This is somewhat akin to jumping from one fish bowl to another. The view from inside the U.S. fish bowl provides only a fun-house reflection of one's own image. The...
A lot of ink is expended on the competitive machinations of the top five global handset vendors-for good reason. This year, together, they will account for perhaps 80 percent of the nearly 1 billion handset shipments around the world. Big research-and-development budgets that support...
NEW YORK-Big box retailer Best Buy has branched out with a new emphasis on wireless, opening new stores in the New York metro area that focus exclusively on offering a wide selection of handsets from various carriers. Five of the new stores are stand-alone...
The Sony Ericsson W810i-the vendor's flagship Walkman music phone, described as a ``multimedia beast'' by one analyst-will be closely watched by some in the industry to see how well it sells at Cingular Wireless L.L.C.Why? The answer reflects the industry's increasing time-to-market pressures, a...
LONDON—Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications announced plans to purchase UIQ Technology AB, a subsidiary of Symbian Ltd. UIQ, based in Sweden, licenses its user interface and application development platform to mobile phone vendors worldwide, including Sony Ericsson. The two companies have worked together on UIQ...
Editor's Note: Welcome our Monday feature, Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. In the coming weeks look for columns from Strategy Analytics' Chris Ambrosio, Current Analysis’ Peter...
As a consensus of forecasts converge on the magical billion mark for handset shipments this year-although with some dissenters-attention has focused on several dynamics at play. The upshot? Watch the market for replacement handsets in emerging markets, the mobile handset industry's new driver.Most forecasters...
The development of firmware-over-the-air, or FOTA, lies at the intersection of several related trends in mobile devices and their management. The sector is growing and, already, several players claim market leadership. As handsets are packed with features, they are packed with software-bugs and updates...
The fourth quarter-a seasonally hot quarter for handset sales-is well underway. Time for the crystal ball and a word from a couple of gazers. The outlook remains positive for fourth-quarter shipment volumes, based largely on historical trends and the remarkable volumes of handsets shipped...
Over the Razr's unprecedented two-year run, the retail price of the device has plummeted from $500 to $50, drawing new volumes of consumers at each price point along the way. In the process, this game-changing handset has sold more than 50 million units, spawned...
Style and innovation matter. So does brand and, of course, size. Carrier relationships help too, though three of the strongest brands continue to exert a gravity of their own. The industry's two behemoths-need we mention names?-continued to distance themselves from their three lesser rivals...
Timing, they say, is everything. And so it goes with mobile handset vendors and their product announcements. There's a natural tension between the need to keep the market informed about one's innovations and product pipeline and the downside of tipping off competitors or setting...
L.M. Ericsson, the world's largest equipment supplier, posted a 17-percent increase in year-over-year third-quarter net profits thanks to its wildly successful handset joint venture, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P. The mobile networks giant owns half of Sony Ericsson, which shipped nearly 20 million handsets...
