Asustek Computer Inc’s (華碩) handset products officially hit the Egyptian market this month as part of the company’s strategy to extend its reach in the Middle East and Africa region.
The launch of smartphones in Egypt came months after the PC maker introduced its ZenFone 2 series in Istanbul, Turkey in August.
The Taiwanese PC maker launched four models of the ZenFone 2 series from different price range — ZenFone 2 Deluxe, ZenFone Selfie, ZenFone 2 Laser, and the affordable ZenFone Go — to tackle each price segment of the Egyptian smartphone market.
“The Egyptian market is promising and has a strong potential for smartphones,” Asustek Egypt country manager Saria Hamouda said, as quoted by the Daily News Egypt.
Hamouda said the company expects to sell between 10,000 and 15,000 smartphones this month.
The PC maker is investing US$10 million for marketing resources in Egypt, and expects to ship 40,000 smartphones to the country before the end of this year, Hamouda said.
The ZenFones for Egypt would be assembled in China, the firm said.
Hamouda said the company has contracted with 4 Link Distribution and Metra Computer Group to distribute the device in Egypt.
The Middle East and Africa region is considered one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the global handset industry, with a relatively low smartphone penetration rate of 63 percent in the Middle East and 47 percent in Africa in the first quarter of this year, according to International Data Corp (IDC).
Samsung Electronic Co, African handset maker Tecno Mobile and Apple Inc were the top three leading smartphone vendors in Africa with a combined market share of 55 percent of the Africa’s smartphone shipments, IDC said.
IDC forecast the total smartphone shipments to the region to reach 155 million units, without disclosing the total shipment recorded last year.
Other than the smartphone market in the Middle East and Africa, Asustek also plans to expand its smartphone business to Cambodia, Myanmar and Bangladesh next month, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Asustek aims to ship 30 million smartphones next year, a significant increase of 50 percent from this year’s estimate of 20 million units, company chief executive officer Jerry Shen (沈振來) told investors on Nov. 11.
The firm hopes that the sales contribution from smartphones would be more than PC’s contribution by 2018, Shen said.
Asustek shares fell 1.82 percent to close at NT$270 in local bourse yesterday.
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