Taiwan handset shipments to grow 9-10% on quarter in 2H08

31 July 2008
With Nokia, LG Electronics and Sony Ericsson continuing to increase their handset outsourcing, and expanding shipment volumes of High Tech Computer's (HTC's) Touch Diamond, Taiwan's handset shipments are expected to grow 9-10% on quarter during the final two quarters of 2008, bringing total shipments for the year to 120 million units, up 10.7% from a year earlier.
Taiwan's handset sector saw shipments continue to drop 4.4% sequentially to 27.37 million units in the second quarter of 2008 following a 14.3% sequential decline in the first quarter as orders from Motorola remained weak, and those from clients in emerging markets were rather limited due to the transition to new models. However, second-quarter shipments represented an increase of 30.7% from a year earlier due to new orders from India's Reliance Communications and China's Hwawei Technologies.
The proportion of various categories of handsets shipped by Taiwan makers in the second quarter was similar to that seen in the first quarter, although a decrease in orders for entry-level models from Motorola, an increase in orders from LG, and more orders for smartphones were recorded.
As a result, shipments of handsets with a built-in 3-megapixel camera increased by nearly four percentage points to account for 6.5% of total handset shipments in the second quarter, whereas shipments of handsets without a built-in camera or with a only a 300,000-pixel camera declined by 6.5 percentage points sequentially.
While increasing orders from LG and Sony Ericsson are expected to stop Taiwan's handset shipments from declining further in the third quarter, shipments of CDMA models to Nokia and the Touch Diamond handsets from HTC will be the main growth drivers for Taiwan's handset industry in the second half of the year.
The ratio of Taiwan's shipments of CDMA handsets is likely to increase by four percentage points sequentially to account for 28.3% of total shipments in the third quarter, while shipments of WCDMA models will also continue to grow to account for 10% by the fourth quarter, buoyed by shipments of HTC's own-brand models and those shipped to Motorola by Qisda.
Orders for entry-level handsets from Motorola, Reliance and Hwawei in the second half of 2008 are expected to be lower than those seen in the first half, and therefore the ratios of handsets with a monochrome display and without a built-in camera will drop to below 10% and 40%, respectively, in the fourth quarter.
For individual Taiwan handset makers, Compal Communications is expected to rely more on its two new clients, Nokia and LG, to sustain future growth, with shipments of CDMA handsets to Nokia to begin in the second half of 2008 and shipments to LG to contribute a greater proportion of its revenues in 2009.
Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS), an affiliate of Hong Kong-listed Foxconn International Holdings (FIH), will also rely on CDMA shipments to Nokia to keep its production scale from declining as its shipments were affected by slow sales at Motorola and Sony Ericsson recently.
Thanks to orders from Sony Ericsson and LG, Arima Communications saw its handset shipments increase 58% on year to 5.46 million units in the first half of 2008 with prospects to see quarterly shipments surpass four million units in the second half of the year.
Due to a change in outsourcing strategy, LG is expected to move up to rank third in the global handset market in the first half of 2008, making it a crucial sales driver for either Compal and Arima (the two ODMs competing for orders from LG) in 2009 and beyond.
In addition, Arima is also expected to tie up with Finland-based EMS provider Elcoteq in order to strengthen its ability to compete with CMCS to win more orders from Sony Ericsson.
Led by HTC, shipments of smartphones by Taiwan makers are expected to grow quarter-by-quarter, with accumulated shipments to account for 16.1% of Taiwan's overall handset shipments in 2008.

Taiwan market: Handset unit sales down 14.5% sequentially in March

24 April 2008
Sales of handsets in the Taiwan market totaled 590,000 units in March 2008, down 14.5% from the previous month, according to preliminary data compiled by retail channels in Taiwan.
Nokia continued to lead rivals as the number one vendor in the local market, accounting for a 31% share in terms of unit sales and 33% in terms of sales value, the data showed.
Although Taiwan-based High Tech Computer (HTC) was not among the top-five vendors, the company's sales value in March was close to the amount recorded by LG Electronics, which was ranked as the fifth largest vendor both in terms of unit sales and value, according to the data.

Taiwan market: Market share of top-five handset vendors, March 2008

Nokia expected to expand partnerships with Taiwan handset chip solution vendors

27 Feb 2008

Industry source said, that Nokia will grow its component procurement flexibility and proportion, expect that Taiwan-based IC design houses will benefit from the move.

Number of Taiwan mobile phone subscribers tops 24 million in 2007

19 February 2008

Taiwan had 24.282 million subscribers of mobile communication services at the end of 2007, according to statistics published by Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC). The total number of subscribers consisted of 15.907 million for 2G services, 6.915 million for 3G and 1.46 million for low-power PHS (personal handy-phone system).

The total number of 2G subscribers in Taiwan reached a peak of 25.29 million at the end of August 2003 and then has steadily decreased mainly due to a shift from 2G to 3G services, the NCC pointed out. In 2007, the number of 3G subscribers increased by a monthly average of 290,000, NCC noted.

Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), the largest operator of both 2G and 3G services, expects the number of its 3G subscribers to rise from 2.29 million at the end of 2007 to 3.50 million at the end of 2008, with about one million subscribers to come from its existing 2G users, according to the company.

Nokia to group its target markets into two mega distribution areas, say market sources

7 Dec, 2007
Nokia plans to initiate a shake-up of its corporate structure by grouping its market segments into two large areas – Distribution East and Distribution West – instead of the current six markets. The plans are to come into effect starting January 1, 2008, according to market sources familiar with the project.
Colin Giles, incumbent present for Greater China Nokia, will be assigned to head Distribution East, whereas Timo Toikkanen, current senior vice president for the Middle East and Africa, will become the head of Distribution West, the sources indicated.
Also including the shake-up Nokia will restructure its corporate branches into three major divisions – devices, software/services and markets – instead of current four branches covering mobile phones, multimedia, enterprise solutions and telecommunications, the source noted.
Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia executive vice president and general manager of multimedia, is expected to take up the reins of the new markets division, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.

Tecom boosts its equity holdings in WiMAX Telecom to over 44%

30 Nov, 2007,

Taiwan-based telecom equipment maker Tecom has increased its equity investment in WiMAX Telecom, a licensed WiMAX operator, to a total of NT$436 million (US$13.5 million). The company now holds a 44.25% stake in the WiMAX operator, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Additionally, Tecom's parent company, Teco Electric & Machinery also holds a 10% stake in WiMAX Telecom, making the Teco Group the majority shareholder of the WiMAX operator, according to sources at Tecom.
Tecom, in addition to starting deliveries of WiMAX base stations to WiMAX Telecom by the end of this year, will also venture into the production of WiMAX CPE (consumer premises equipment) products, said the sources.

Taiwan market: HTC and Dopod see highest handset market share in October

21 Nov, 2007

The combined market share of High Tech Computer (HTC) and its subsidiary Dopod International in Taiwan's handset market hit a record high in October, standing at 6%, according to preliminary data compiled by retail channels in Taiwan.
Nokia saw its share in Taiwan decline slightly in October, but the company still was ranked as the number one vendor with a comfortable market share of over 32%, the data showed.
Motorola managed to close its gap with Samsung Electronics in unit sales and kept its number four ranking in October. The US-based vendor, however, re-captured third place from Samsung in terms of sales value with a 9.9% share.
HTC alone was ranked the 10th largest vendor with a market share close to 4% in October, according to the channels.

Source: Preliminary data from Taiwan retail channels as quoted by the Commercial Times,

Taiwan market: Motorola to launch 20-30 handsets in 2008 to restore leading market position

20 Nov, 2007

Motorola plans to launch 20-30 new handsets in Taiwan in 2008 with an aim to re-capture the lead position in the Taiwan handset market, according to Bill Chen, newly appointed general manager of mobile device business at Motorola Taiwan.
In the coming year, Motorola will also stress strengthening its relations with channel partners in Taiwan and to pursue a balance between sales volume and profitability while gearing up efforts to boost performance, Chen stated.
Motorola currently was ranked as the fourth largest vendor in the Taiwan handset market accounting for a 13.6% share, compared to Nokia's 32%, Sony Ericsson's 20.6% and Samsung Electronics' 14-15%, according a Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) report as well as sources at Samsung.
Motorola on November 19 launched it RAZR 2 V8 Luxury Edition handset and other 2GB V8 models in Taiwan targeting the high-end segment, with the company planning to introduce its 3G-version V9, ROKR Z8 music handset and 3.5G Q9 smartphone in the local market before the end of this year, according to company sources.
Motorola has ventured into the development of Android-based handsets, but the company still has no timetable for the launch the open-platform mobile devices, Chen stated.

Taiwan handset production to top 37 million units in 4Q07, reports paper

13 Nov, 2007, EDN

The total production of handsets, including smartphones, by Taiwan makers are expected to grow 25% sequentially to 37.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2007 before declining to 35.02 million units in the first quarter of 2008, according to a Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) report, which quoted data released by Taiwan's Market Intelligence Center (MIC).
According to MIC data, the production of typical mobile phones will total 31.18 million units in the fourth quarter of 2007 before dropping to 28.8 million units in the first quarter of 2008, whereas the production of smartphones will top 6.22 million units each in the two correspondent quarters, the EDN said.

Taiwan market: Samsung to open first retail store

13 Nov, 2007
Samsung Electronics plans to open a retail store for its elite series electronics products located in eastern downtown Taipei. This will be the first store Samsung opens in Taiwan. The opening is scheduled for November 17, according to Samsung Electronics Taiwan.
The design and style of the store is the same as other Samsung elite stores around the world, Samsung Taiwan indicated. The store will showcases handsets, digital music players, digital cameras, printers, LCD monitors and home theater systems, Samsung Taiwan noted.
Samsung plans to set up further retail outlets in central and southern Taiwan in 2008, Samsung Taiwan pointed out.

WCDMA/高單價機種熱銷 台灣手機市場小成長

11 May, 2007

根據資策會資訊市場情報中心(MIC)所發表的最新報告，2007年第一季台灣行動電話市場的銷售總值達到新台幣110億5,000萬元，較上季提升7.5%，平均單價則提高為新台幣6,116元。成長主因在於WCDMA機種銷售比重持續增加，以及高單價機種透過開放式通路行銷所致，再加上國際品牌業者與行動通訊服務業者的促銷方案，帶動第一季台灣行動電話銷售總量達189萬7,000支，較上一季成長5.1%，但較去年同期衰退3.5%。
MIC表示，就系統規格而言，GSM/GPRS行動電話雖然仍是銷售大宗，但隨著愈來愈多的中低階WCDMA機種綁約專案價格與GSM/GPRS價格相當貼近，讓消費大眾得以在無增添額外負擔的狀況下就可享有WCDMA服務，因此促使第一季WCDMA銷售比重站上22%，相對造成CDMA在第一季的表現上就顯得較為疲弱。
就產品功能面觀察，隨著內建數位相機模組的機種增加，附相機功能的行動電話銷售比重已經達到68%，雖然新台幣5,000元以下的機種仍是市場銷售主力，但是在行動通訊服務業者於促銷過程中，不斷強調行動上網及加值服務的應用，消費者逐漸重視新台幣5,000元以上的機種，特別是數款低階WCDMA的產品。
展望2007年及第二季的發展，MIC預期台灣整體經濟仍維持「外熱內冷」的基本態勢，預估2007年台灣市場的行動電話銷售量約為710萬支，較2006年小幅衰退2%左右。此外，在國家通訊傳播委員會(NCC)要求行動通訊服務業者降低2G語音費率的政策下，行動通訊服務業者面對市場競爭，預期發展重點將優先在WCDMA及HSDPA裝置普及化，先營造用戶普遍具有行動上網的潛在條件，再進一步增加行動加值服務。