Dopod eyeing mid-priced handsets to boost volumes

Dopod International Corp (多普達), a mobile phone brand unit of High Tech Computer Corp (HTC, 宏達電子), said yesterday that annual shipments would double this year as it expands its product offerings from high to middle-priced handsets.

Dopod mainly sells own-brand, high-end mobile phones running on Microsoft Corp's operating system and priced at more than NT$15,000 apiece, targeting corporate executives in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Doubling shipments this year should be an achievable target. We have already seen strong growth momentum in the first quarter," chief executive Jack Tong (董俊良) said after a product launch for a new handset priced at NT$39,900, which is comparable to the price of a notebook computer.

Tong shrugged off concerns that competition from Apple Inc's "iPhone" might affect its sales this year, saying he did not think it would be a threat until two or three years down the road.

Apple is scheduled to unveil the device in summer.

Shipments in the first three months of the year are expected to rise more than 60 percent sequentially after hitting a record high last quarter, Tong said without giving detailed figures.

Dopod aimed to ship 1 million handsets last year, but Tong declined to comment on whether the goal was reached.

The company is looking to expand into the mid-priced handset segment to boost shipments this year.

"We have to sell phones with different price tags to boost volume growth. We can't focus only on the high-priced segment," Tong said.

For starters, Dopod will launch a lower-priced phone in India this year, Tong said.

The company is also diversifying its target market to include teenagers, as well as mulling offering more affordable handsets by working with mobile operators and channel operators and expanding its outlets from 100 stores now, Tong said.

Dopod plans to roll out at least 10 new models this year as it did last year, he said.

Mobile carriers usually offer subsidies for new subscribers to get a phone at a much lower price.

Dopod supplies custom-made handsets for the nation's biggest telecommunications company, Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信).

Cooperating with mobile carriers is a more cost-efficient marketing strategy, as it lets the company share costs with its partners, Tong said in response to investor concern about a possible spike in HTC's marketing expense following its acquisition of the handset brand business.