According to a market survey firm IDC report, 10 local brand mobile handsets have 28 per cent of the market, with local brand remaining low key.
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According to a market survey firm IDC report, 10 local brand mobile handsets have 28 per cent of the market, with local brand remaining low key.
For instance, Q-Mobile, though carving a niche in the market, has just gained a 2.7 per cent market share, F-Mobile 2.5 per cent and Vinaphone 1.7 per cent whereas Finland’s Nokia had a 53 per cent market share and South Korea’s Samsung 9 per cent.
Leading mobile handset retailer Thegioididong.com’s sales figures saw local handsets sold through the system account for 30 per cent of sales in the year to date.
IDC Vietnam senior market analyst Thanh Vo said local mobile phones faced stiff competition from foreign versions. A key advantage of local handsets low pricing, but foreign players were rolling out cheap-price models.
IDC figures also reflect traditional handset lines occupied over 90 per cent of imported handsets in the past years.
“Foreign players have focused on launching cheap-price handsets to compete with local versions which are mostly sold for less than VND1.5 million ($72.4) per unit,” said The gioi di dong Joint Stock Company business director Dinh Anh Huan.
Huan said it was hard for local handsets to make differences with their hardware while enhancing competitiveness through pumping money into enriching software applications was not easy for local handset makers.
To find a market niche, local telecom giant FPT is striving to build up the F-Store with virtually local applications. Q-Mobile is teaming up with Qualcomm to give birth to smartphone lines. It has also joined hands with Yahoo! and media firm VTC to expand Q-Store to better meet users’ demands.
(Source: VIR)
