Handset market terrain continues to evolve

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2006-05-04 09:06

Seoul--(뉴스와이어)--In the last six months, Anycall was bought by the largest number of mobile phone users, followed by Cyon, and Pantech & Curitel. As compared to six months ago, the gap between Anycall and Cyon has narrowed. The analysis shows that there are many factors that will even speed up the fierce competition among makers.

According to Marketing Insight, Inc. (www.mktingisht.co.kr, CEO: Kim Jin-Kook), a consumer research company that has been conducting a study on more than 100,000 mobile phone owners every half year, 43.0% of 17,477 new handset buyers from September 2005 through February 2006 bought Anycall, followed by Cyon (19.3%), and Pantech & Curitel (13.3%).

Although Anycall has seen a drop in its market share by 3.1 percentage points while Cyon enjoyed an increase of 2.0 percentage points compared to six months ago, the figures from the same period a year ago record a 5.1 percentage point increase for Anycall and a 3.8 percentage point decrease for Cyon this year, indicating stong competition between the two leading handset makers. Following the Pantech & Curitel’s acquisition of Sky last year, the sum of the two companies’ market shares dropped by 2.0 percentage points from 23.5% in the same period last year to 21.5% this year.

On the other hand, Motorola, having opened the door to the slim phone market with the last year’s launch of RAZR, increased its share by 0.6 percentage points from the same period last year, although posting a slightly lower share of 5.3% compared to six months ago.

Brands’ market shares were noticeably different by mobile service operator. Anycall accounted for 47.3% of SK Telecom subscribers, while among LG Telecom user, Cyon and Pantech & Curitel made up 42.2% and 18.7% respectively.

Among Anycall, Cyon, and Pantech & Curitel, the three brands that supply handsets to all three carriers, the smallest differences in shares were observed in Anycall SKT 47.3%, KTF 43.1%, LGT 31.4%) whereas Cyon reported the largest differences (SKT 10.4%, KTF 19.6%, LGT 42.4%). Anycall’s differences in shares by carrier significantly decreased, compared to the same period last year.

Interestingly, Sky took up 4.8% of LG Telecom since it began to supply its handsets to LGT users, which offers a more various selection of handsets to LGT customers whose choice used to be centered on Cyon in the past.

However, this may just be a part of the forthcoming changes. If Sky and Ever supply their handsets to all carriers, consumers will have a wider range of choices. The handset makers will face stronger competition, and significant changes to the competition structure will take place.

Differing brand shares by consumer age group is also interesting as a particular brand is relatively more popular with a certain age group.

Anycall had an about 30% share in the under-24 age group, going up to around 40% in the 30- and 40- age groups, and exceeding 50% in the 50+ age group, still boasting high popularity among older users. However, the share in older age groups became smaller compared to the past (from 59.1% in 2nd wave to 50.4% in 3rd wave) .

Pantech & Curitel reported only 10% in 20’s but enjoyed a high share among middle school students (16.0%), high school students (15.8%), and the 50-64 age group (16.2%), displaying a marked age disparity. Ever had a high share only in middle- and high- school students (around 14%), showing a low share of less than 7% in older age groups.

It is worth nothing the changes in shares for Cyon. The brand was relatively popular among teenagers six months ago [Appendix. Table 1], but recently, its shares are evenly spread in all age groups, with a notable increase of share in the 20-29 age group.

Most noticeable is Cyon taking the No.2 position from Sky, a maker now No.3 in rankings who still enjoys popularity among 20’s (16.6% in 20-24, 15.8% in 25-29). This indicates not only that Cyon’s high-end market strategy has proved to be successful but also that a head-on clash in the 20’s age group is expected once Sky overcomes its slump after the take-over by Pantech & Curitel and extends its sales to KT Freetel as well as increasing sales in LGT.

With the fast-changing needs of consumers, the current handset market is on the verge of yet another big change in the market structure. Last year, Pantech & Curitel took over Sky, and Cyon is planning to acquire Ever. Sky and Ever announced their intention to expand their supply to multiple carriers. With these movements signaling signs of transformation of the terrain, a victory in the fierce competition will be decided by the consumers.

Marketing Insight Inc. (Formerly F-inside) conducts a large-scale syndicated study on telecommunications services and handsets with sample size of over 100,000 twice a year (in March and September). These study results are extracted from ‘The 3rd Wave Telecommunications Syndicated Study’ conducted by email survey in last March.

All the rights concerning this study are reserved to Marketing Insight, Inc. No portion of the contents may be used for commercial purpose by any means.

웹사이트: http://www.mktingisht.co.kr