Siemens AG of Germany yesterday unveiled its first 1.3-megapixel camera phone in an attempt to nearly triple its share of the local market, as phones equipped with better-resolution cameras catch on fast in Taiwan, a company executive said.
Siemens isn't the only cellphone company to utilize the high-end, megapixel models to create new demand in a market reaching saturation.
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB last week introduced a high-end 1.3-megapixel camera phone, the S700i, to Taiwan consumers while Nokia Oyj is scheduled to roll out another megapixel camera phone next month.
"Aggressive efforts by mobile-phone vendors to launch new high-end models, priced at above NT$11,000 per unit, are expected to create new demand for this segment," said Edward Wang (王麒賀), a director at Siemens' Taiwan division, Siemens Tele-communication System Ltd.
Wang forecast the market share of this high-end segment will increase to around 10 percent from 8 percent by the end of the year. Overall, he forecast that total sales of mobile phones in Taiwan will grow 15 percent in the fourth quarter from 1.6 million units a year ago.
"With more models to roll out, including the 1.3-megapixel S65, we hope to also increase our market share to around 7 or 8 percent by the end of the year," Wang said.
That will put Siemens in direct competition with Sony Ericsson for the fourth-strongest position in the market. The Japanese-Swedish company's local market share rose to around 7 percent in July.
Siemens currently owns about 3 percent of Taiwan's handset market of over 6 million units, Wang said.
Currently, there are 7 megapixel or 8 megapixel models on the market for consumers to select from, including the newly launched S700 by BenQ Corp (
But, industry watchers are not pinning hope on the aggressive launches of megapixel phones to spur the market demand.
“The efforts will not whet up fresh appetite for new mobile phones, said Bruce Chiu (邱致忠), a vice president of Taiwan’s No.2 cell phone retail chain Senao International Co (神腦國際).
“Those megapixsel camera phones are still too expensive to stimulate demand. Besides, the bulky size has made them unwieldy,” Chiu said.
A Sony Ericsson S700i is selling at a high price tag of NT$2,1900. A Siemens S65 is relatively affordable compared those in that class, but will still cost NT$1,3800 each for consumers.
As a result, handset sales in the October-December quarter will remain flat at about 1.7 million units versus the same period last year, Chiu projected.
Marty Kung (龔俊光), an analyst with Market Intelligence Center(資訊市場情報中心), expressed a similar view with Chiu.
“The stimulus from those high-end camera phones will be weak as merely replacement demand from tech pioneers will be spurred,” Kung said.
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