APAC mobile phone sales up 24.1% in 2004

NEW DELHI: Demand for low-end handsets targeted at prepaid, replacement or new users in emerging markets helped propel Asia Pacific mobile phone sales to 164 million in 2004, an increase of 24.1 percent compared to 2003, according to the latest figures released by Gartner Inc.






"Sales in 2004 were robust for the Indian market with mobile phone sales scaling up to around 21 million. Recent policy initiatives implemented during the annual budget will stimulate adoption of mobile services, fueling demand for handsets," said principal analyst at Gartner Kobita Desai.





"In the coming months, the advantage will be with those who will focus on expanding their channel outlets and undertake aggressive brand building exercise as mobile operators extend their networks into provincial towns. Increasingly, we're seeing an environment evolving where mobile operators are going to play a distinctive role in providing guidance for handset features as also the price points," she said.





Nokia's maintained its market leadership in the Asia Pacific region with a 30.8 percent share of mobile phone sales during 2004. Nokia's total annual sales to end users in Asia Pacific reached 50.6 million, a 28 percent increase compared with 2003. "This was driven by strong demand for mid and low-tier models including the 2300, 2650, 3200, 3315 and 6100," said Gartner.





"Phones with cameras and color screens accounted for the majority of sales in the low-tier segment, slowly eroding the share of black and white display handsets," said principal analyst at Gartner for mobile terminals research in the Asia Pacific region Ann Liang.





"Sales of 3G handsets were disappointing, due to a lack of popular models and with operators continuing to focus 3G marketing efforts on customers with high calling patterns. This resulted in slow WCDMA sales despite strong seasonal marketing campaigns, although we expect increased activity through 2005 in line with network launches and improved availability of 3G handsets," she added.





Samsung also performed well in the region during 2004, increasing sales volumes by 31 percent and adding one percent market share. Gartner said it expected Samsung to face increased competition as Motorola strengthens its product range through 2005 and focuses on improving its market share.