Too big for its boots
The
strokers of beards and people in the know claim that the US mobile phone
market is poised for another round of consolidation. Large manufacturers
are getting more interested in the lucrative prepaid market and are set to
squeeze the smaller rivals into buyouts.
Strategy Analytics, a
market-research outfit said that big cellphone makers with less popular
smart phones have been focusing on the lower end of the market, churning out
devices for customers who don't sign long-term contracts. Samsung and
LG Electronics have been named to hit smaller vendors that have gained
footholds serving regional carriers.
Overall mobile phone shipments to
the US rose 10 per cent as the world's largest cellphone market bucked the
13% plunge in global handset shipments. Telcos have been offering big
subsidies on smart phones, which require consumers to sign up for monthly
data plans to avoid paying the full cost of upgrading their
phones.
Strategy Analytics turned over a tarot card and predicted that
several smaller vendors will exit the market in the next year or two because
they can't compete with bigger vendors. Kyocera Sanyo, a venture of
several Asian players that sells half its output has been named as
likely to go.