Despite Thailand's political uncertainty through the first half of 2010, smart phone shipments have still skyrocketed by 200 percent, due to the highly competitive market driving down unit prices.
The market expects to reach 800,000 units by end of this year, according to GFK Retail and Technology (Thailand).
Donchart Jeremy Chirasanti, Account Manager at GFK, said in the first six months of this year saw the smart phone market reach 330,000 units, or a growth 200 percent on the same time last year.
The top five selling smart phone brands are from Nokia, BlackBerry, Samsung, iPhone and HTC.
Nokia has introduced the 5233 model at 4,900 baht, an attractive price point in the mainstream market which has helped to boost it share, while BlackBerry is selling ahead of iPhone due to more distribution channels, such as Tgfone and J-Mart, and a zero percent installment program.
In the second half of this year, other main players may be more active, including Acer, Asus and Nokia, which is offering its N97 Mini for 13,900 baht, with free free Ovi map software.
Samsung will continues its aggressive marketing and its new Galaxy S model has gained positive feedback.
Meanwhile the iPhone4 comes at the high price of around 50,000 baht, even for unlocked versions on the grey market and an established problem with dropped calls.
GFK also believes Android will play a significant role in making the market, with Motorola and HTC to use the operating system.
The industry has been recovering since June, although during the height of the political protests, the market still only dipped by less than 10 percent because the unrest focused mainly on Bangkok, while sales remained strong in other provinces.
Meanwhile, interbrand vendors have introduced models at the lower end of the price range in order to retain market share, and house brands such as iMobile, which offers a similar phone to the BlackBerry, cost around 5,000-8,000 baht and have their its own dealer channels in provincial areas.
By end of this year, smart phones are expected to account for nine to 10 percent of the overall mobile phone market, up from last year's share of six percent.
At this stage, it's hard to predict that how much 3G will impact the market, but new applications such as video call and video conference as well full-HD movies should attract users.
Dr Wichit Purepong, General Manager at GFK, said 3G services at attractive prices will boost smart phone take-up.
About the author
Writer: Suchit Leesa-nguansuk
Position: Reporter
ที่มา: bangkokpost.com
Topic: Unrest fails to dampen demand (Read 1906 times)
June 05, 2009, 01:16:35 PM
