Motorola Can Hardly Say Goodbye to Low-end Market in China

SHENZHEN, Aug 27, 2008 (SinoCast China IT Watch via COMTEX) -- MOT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Though industry experts believe that a primary cause of Motorola's ever falling sales is its overexposure to the low-end market, the fourth largest cell phone maker can hardly say goodbye to the lower tiers of the handset market in China.

Lately Motorola launched an entry-level cell phone W388 in this country in a fanfare. Featuring with camera and music functions, the handset is priced stunningly at less than CNY 1,000.

The entry-level cell phones have been representing a huge market, especially in China, where many people are lack of purchasing power. They prefer handsets inexpensive and durable.

Following the heels of W388, Motorola will come up with another entry-level cell phone in China W396 to further fulfill its low-price lineup along with previously-released W156, W206, W230, and W270, according to general manager of the mobile terminal department of Motorola China.

The W series cell phones of Motorola are highlighted for their multimedia music playing function, FM radio and even digital camera. Some of them can be expandable to 2GB through external storage cards.

Powered by the Crystal Talk technologies, the W series have excellent performance in voice quality.

Motorola has put in a lot of efforts in the low-end market to compete for more market shares with its archrivals such as Nokia and Samsung during the past a couple of years. However, its profits have been on the decline though its market shares have been enlarged.

Experts believe that Motorola will be confronted with a much bigger challenge arising from the rampancy of inferior cell phone brands. What is more, it will start to see fierce competition in the low-end market from Nokia and Samsung, too.

However, Motorola is very confident of the prospect of the entry-level cell phone market in China as the majority of Chinese people in the underdeveloped vast rural areas don't have a handset. They are dying for an inexpensive cell phone with basic functions.

As a country with a total population of 1.3 billion, China has some 500 million cell phone subscribers by now. That represents a market of 800 million cell phones.

The future core strategy of Motorola shows that it hopes to create higher value experience with lower-priced products, according to the general manager.

Some industry analysts point out that to win the game cell phone makers have to leave the cities behind and exposure heavily to the rural markets.

From www.hexun.com, Page 1, Tuesday, August 26, 2008 info@SinoCast.com

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