According to Pyramid Research, half of all mobile handsets sold in 2002 will be sold in emerging markets. Despite the slowdown in handset sales in the US and Europe, handset vendors can still have a good year if they look to the east for sales growth. For the coming year, GSM handsets will continue to dominate the market. By 2006, Asia-Pacific will represent 45 percent of the world’s mobile subscribers.
“Currently, vendors are focused heavily on developed markets, where growth rates are slowing most rapidly,” said Daniel Torras ([email protected]). “Vendors need to expand their focus to include regional hotspots, such as Asia, which will account for nearly half of all mobile subscribers by 2006. However, as vendors enter emerging markets, they also need to be sensitive to issues such as price resistance, churn and black markets.”