China handset vendors make strong inroads into emerging markets

28 August 2008

Two China-based handset vendors - TCL and Konka - have made more inroads into the global handset market, especially in emerging markets, according to data released by the companies.

TCL has said that it shipped 6.7 million handsets in the first half of this year, up 60% from the same period of 2007.

In particular, TCL's shipments of Alcatel-branded handsets to the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and Latin American markets expanded by at an annual rate of 44% and 71%, respectively, in the first half. To sustain its goal to ship 16 million handsets in 2008, the company plans to launch 15 TCL-branded as well as 19 Alcatel-branded handsets in the second half, said the company.

Konka claimed that its shipments of handsets to markets outside China, including India, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, moved up 38% on year in the fist half. Konka has also signed an agreement with Spice Telecom to supply the India-based telecom operator with 10 million handsets in three years.

China-based Gome to purchase five million handsets in 2008, say sources

14 Nov, 2007
China-based Gome Electrical Appliances Holding has signed contracts to purchase a total of five million handsets from international leading vendors as well as from handset makers in China, according to industry sources.
The purchase contracts are part of Gome's plan to expand its share in the handset market in China, said the sources, noting that Gome aims to boost its share from the current 6.7% to 10% in 2008 and to further expand the market share to 15% within three years.
Under the contracts, Gome, in 2008, will buy as many as 3.3 million handsets from international leading handset vendors, including 1.1 million units from Nokia, 1.0 million units from Samsung Electronics, 700,000 units from Motorola and 500,000 units from Sony Ericsson, the sources indicated.
Gome will also purchase another 1.7 million handsets from China-based handset makers next year, including 500,000 units from TCL (including Alcatel-branded models), 400,000 units each from Lenovo and Amoi Electronics and 200,000 units each from Haier and Chinabird (formerly Ningbo Bird), the sources added.
Gome's strategy to purchase handsets directly from the vendors could affect efforts by Taiwan-based distributor Synnex Technology International to expand its handset sales in China, according to the sources.

TCL to re-launch Alcatel-branded handsets in China

31 Oct, 2007

China-based TCL Communication Technology Holdings plans to re-launch Alcatel-branded handsets in the China market before the end of this year, according to a company press release.
With Alcatel-Lucent recently signing a cooperation agreement with RIM (Research in Motion), the upcoming Alcatel-branded handsets will include a Blackberry-enabled model, according to sources close to the company.
There also will be a luxury model, the N3, which is jointly developed by Alcatel and Elle, the sources added.
TCL also reported that its handset shipments jumped 30% on year, to reach 3.6 million units in the third quarter of this year, including 1.2 million units shipped to the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) markets.
The company expects its handset shipments to grow 44% sequentially in the fourth quarter, with total shipments for all of 2007 to top 12-13 million units, the company said in the press release.
Total handset shipments are expected to hit 15-18 million units in 2008 and further expand to 25 million units in 2009, company CEO Liu Fei was quoted as indicating in the press release.