China Mobile Ltd (中國移動) has disclosed it is considering collaborating with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (鴻海精密) to sell its own smartphone products, but analysts said the Chinese telecom’s new strategy would have a limited impact on the smartphone market.
China Mobile deputy chief executive Lee Cheng-mao (李正茂) told reporters on the sidelines of a forum on Tuesday that China Mobile may place smartphone orders with Hon Hai and start selling its own smartphone products as part of the company’s long-term plans.
As Chinese telecoms upgrade their services with TD LTE network infrastructure being installed in China, Lee said China Mobile plans to purchase more than 1 million smartphones this year that can be used with fourth-generation mobile communications networks, adding that Taoyuan-based smartphone vendor HTC Corp’s (宏達電) products are on the firm’s shopping list.
“If Apple Inc can work with Hon Hai, why can’t China Mobile?” Lee asked.
China Mobile is looking to sell smartphone products that support the TD LTE mobile technology standard and carry price tags of more than 1,000 yuan (US$163), Lee said.
Arthur Liao (廖顯毅), an analyst at Taipei-based Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券), said China Mobile’s plan to work with Hon Hai and sell its own smartphones may help boost its service revenue, but yield limited benefit to Hon Hai, which has been keen to diversify its customer portfolio.
“China Mobile is not likely to place a large quantity of orders with Hon Hai and even if it plans to do so, the smartphone products it plans to sell will be mostly mid-end rather than high-end models,” Liao said by telephone yesterday.
China Mobile would likely not be able to compete with experienced vendors because “it doesn’t know much about competition in the smartphone market,” Liao said.
To telecoms, selling smartphones is a way to boost their service revenue and expand their customer bases, he said.
As the smartphone market is reaching saturation point and each smartphone vendor has been forced to develop mid-end or entry-level products in order to grow their profits, China Mobile may provide “zero-priced” or customized smartphones to its customers to differentiate itself from rivals in the smartphone industry, Liao said.
“Players in the smartphone market know the importance of marketing, which requires experience,” Liao said. “For China Mobile to grow as big as the world’s leading smartphone vendors, there is a long way to go.”
Echoing Liao, First Capital Management Inc analyst (第一金證券投顧) Rick Yu (俞瑞華) said China Mobile’s new business plan may have little impact on the smartphone market because “it is not possible for China Mobile to place too many orders for smartphones and shift their business focus from telecom services.”
“Though making smartphones is not a challenge now, achieving good sales figures is the most challenging task facing smartphone vendors,” Yu said by telephone yesterday.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
RSS