Mobile-phone sales in Western Europe dropped last quarter for the first time since at least 2001 as higher costs of living crimped consumer spending, researcher Gartner Inc said.
Total unit sales slipped 16 percent to 35.9 million from a year earlier, a report by Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner said. The global market rose 14 percent to 294 million units, with Nokia Oyj and Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s two biggest producers, taking market share from Motorola Inc.
European consumers, hurt by an economic slowdown and higher fuel prices, opted for mid-priced devices instead of more expensive ones when buying phones, Gartner said. The Asia-Pacific region led global sales growth, together with eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Sales in North America rose 2.4 percent.
“While sales in emerging markets continued to be driven by strong net new subscribers’ growth, mature markets felt the pressure of an uncertain economic environment,” said Carolina Milanesi, a research director at Gartner in Egham, England.
Gartner predicted global sales would rise 10 percent to 15 percent this year, while the value of the market will be lower than Milanesi had anticipated in December. Longer contract periods have also lengthened the replacement cycle, she said.
Nokia raised its market share by unit sales to 39.1 percent from 35.5 percent a year earlier, Gartner said. Samsung increased its share to 14.4 percent from 12.4 percent, while Motorola fell to 10.2 percent from 18.4 percent. LG Electronics Co increased its share to 8 percent from 6.2 percent.
Nokia benefited from the broadest product portfolio, which ranges from entry-level phones to models with satellite navigation. The Finnish company faces tougher competition in the high-end section and needs to improve user friendliness and design of its phones, Milanesi said.
Samsung and LG, both from South Korea, benefited from demand for touch-screen models, a feature that Apple Inc introduced on its iPhone last year. Both companies also increased their market share sequentially, while Nokia and Motorola lost ground.
Motorola has “little” chance of regaining its No. 2 position and may instead fall into fifth place after LG and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd, Milanesi said in an interview. Sony Ericsson, which lost its fourth spot to LG in the first quarter, may rebound with new devices in the second half.
“It will be a heated race between the two,” Milanesi said.
ANNOUNCEMENT: People who do not comply with the ban after a spoken warning would be reported to the police, the airport company said on Friday Taoyuan International Airport Corp on Friday announced that riding on vehicles, including scooter-suitcases (also known as “scootcases”), bicycles, scooters and skateboards, is prohibited in the airport’s terminals. Those using such vehicles should manually pull them or place them on luggage trolleys, the company said in a Facebook post. The ban intends to maintain order and protect travelers’ safety, as the airport often sees large crowds of people, it said, adding that it has stepped up publicity for the regulation, and those who do not comply after a spoken warning would be reported to the police. The company yesterday said that
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
RSS