US cellphone operators, hoping to bolster their brands, are flirting with selling handsets that feature their names exclusively.
The effort, which follows a trend in Asia and Europe, means the companies may eventually sell more models that do not include the names of popular manufacturers. Last month, T-Mobile released a device, the Sidekick, that sends and receives e-mail messages and is made by Sharp but it features only the T-Mobile brand. In August, Sprint started selling a mobile phone built by Pantech, a Korean company, without the maker's name.
More of these handsets are likely to come, analysts say, because US cellphone carriers want to better manage and tailor features and services on the phones. And by working directly with "no name" manufacturers in Taiwan, South Korea and elsewhere, they might also gain leverage over phone makers and potentially reduce their costs.
The operators "are looking to control the hearts and minds of the end user," said John Jackson, an analyst with the Yankee Group, a market research firm. "It's an exercise taking place worldwide as operators look to build consumer affinity."
Still, the strategy could threaten the long and fruitful, but in some ways fragile, relationship of phone operators and makers. The five largest US carriers buy about US$12 billion a year in handsets from the manufacturers, Jackson said, and the two sides have an interest in keeping each other alive.
Consumers know the manufacturers' brands, and studies show they choose a phone based partly on who makes it. The biggest makers, like Motorola, Nokia and Kyocera, spend heavily to market their phones. They also develop features for their phones that the operators would be hard pressed to replicate.
While Asian carriers in particular have eliminated the brand names of phone makers and use low-cost manufacturers, similar efforts in the US are only starting. With the American market reaching saturation, competition to retain customers has intensified so operators are trying to build brand loyalty.
About a year and a half ago, Cingular Wireless, the largest US cellular phone company, began internal discussions about whether to produce its own branded phone, said a spokesman, Clay Owen. The company, he said, wanted to create lower-cost phones using off-brand manufacturers and make Cingular's name more prominent.
"If you've got any brand loyalty you can leverage, that's a factor in creating phones with exclusive brands," he said.
In the end, Cingular's research showed that consumers continued to buy phones based on the reputation of the manufacturer, Owen said, though he added that Cingular continues to consider building phones featuring its brand exclusively.
Sprint generally sells phones that share the brand with manufacturers like Samsung and Sanyo. However, last August, the company began selling a phone made by Audiovox that bears only the Sprint brand.
John Garcia, Sprint's vice president for sales and distribution, said the handset was an aberration, not a sign of things to come.
"That one must have slipped out," he said. Sprint, he said, likes to keep two brand names on the phone, to appeal to consumers who like a specific brand and to give the manufacturer an incentive to built the best phone.
Still, he said, the dynamics have shifted considerably between operators and makers. Until a few years ago, he said, phone operators accepted more generic models. But as carriers have grown and defined their strategies more, they are now dictating more terms.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft