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Global handset market to contract in 2009

Samsung Electronics Co. expects the global handset market to remain weak for the rest of 2009 but remains on target to hit its handset shipments goal set for the year, a senior executive said Monday.

"The market has really dropped for first half of the year, as most of the analysts' industry reports mentioned," said Samsung Electronics Vice President of Overseas Marketing for Mobile Communication Younghee Lee during an interview with Dow Jones Newswires.

"We felt it through the market, and the market has slowed down not only in really sophisticated markets, but even in emerging markets."

She said that the second half of this year is unlikely to be much different from the first six months, adding contraction will likely continue.

Lee noted that the global handset market will likely contract around 5% to 10% this year, in line with industry experts' forecasts at the end of last year.

But the executive said Samsung remains on target to achieve its goal of 200 million handset unit shipments for the year. Samsung had shipped 45.8 million handsets in the first quarter.

The global mobile phone market has been hit hard by the broad economic downturn. ABI Research said in a report that worldwide handset shipments fell 11.9% during the first quarter from a year earlier to 255.6 million handsets shipped.

But Lee said Samsung remains positioned for growth as the company continues to introduce new products in various categories to meet consumer demand, as opposed to concentrating on a specific product or a region. The handset maker is expected to introduce 20 new handset models in Singapore this week.

The executive said the company sees strong potential in the smartphone segment as well as multimedia phones with touch-screen forms, which will put greater pressure on visuals and display technology. She said this gives Samsung an advantage with its AM-OLED technology.

Lee also said Samsung will not simply react to individual products like Apple Inc.'s iPhone or the Palm Pre, and that the firm will not try to buy market share by dropping handset prices.

"We want to be balanced in terms of portfolio management," she said after noting that Samsung doesn't believe in pushing a star product."Also, as much as possible we want to command the price premium with great innovation and most optimized user experience offering."

She also said Samsung will continue expanding its presence in emerging markets, noting that growth potentials are strong in India, Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Источник: Total Telecom

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