Samsung Electronics Co, the world's No.3 mobile phone vendor, is aiming for a 13-percent share of Taiwanese market next year by launching more lower-priced models, a company official said yesterday.
Samsung targeted the high-end cellphone area in the past, but that strategy, along with its small product portfolio, has hindered the company from gaining market share, a local handset retailer said.
Samsung has less than 10 percent share of the Taiwanese market, while its share of the global market is 13 percent.
"We hope to improve our local market position to that of our global level next year," said Ryu Jae-hyun, a director of the mobile marketing department of Samsung Electronics' Taiwan branch.
But Samsung does not plan to introduce cellphones priced under NT$3,000 to the local market, Ryu said.
He said Samsung will only sell such models in emerging markets such as Africa, following in the footsteps of its bigger rivals Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc.
Instead, "Samsung will increase middle-and-low-priced handsets next year to cater to local customers' demand," Ryu said.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of the launch for Samsung's four new lower-priced -- below NT$10,000 -- models in Taipei yesterday.
Middle-and-low-priced handsets -- those priced between NT$5,000 and NT$10,000 -- account for one-third of the nation's total handset sales, making the biggest share of the market, according to market researcher Market Intelligence Center (MIC,
The Taipei-based research house has projected mobile-phone sales will grow 10 percent to 6.8 million units this year, up from 6.1 million a year earlier, as demand increases after Taiwan's mobile operators started offering third-generation (3G) service.
To hit next year's target, Ryu said Samsung will also expand its product portfolio. Samsung plans to introduce more than 20 models to the local market this year.
"Samsung is gaining market share after it improved its product line and lowered prices in the recent months," said Bruce Chiu (邱致忠), a vice president at the nation's No.2 handset retailer, Senao International Co (神腦國際).
Last month Samsung's local ranking jumped to No.5, overtaking BenQ Corp (明基) and coming in just behind Taiwan's biggest handset brand Inventec Appliances Corp (英華達), which runs OKWAP brand, Chiu said, citing the latest statistics released by market researcher JFK. Samsung used to be No. 7 or No.8, he said.
"Global handset vendors' strategy of launching more lower-priced handsets is eating into the market share of local brands, which offer quality phones at lower prices than their global rivals," MIC analyst Matty Kung (龔俊光) said.
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