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With the iPhone 4S launched globally in the fourth quarter of 2011 and expected to be selling well in the first quarter of 2012, other international vendors including Samsung Electronics, HTC, Nokia and LG Electronics are expected to launch their new smartphone models in the second quarter to avoid competing too directly with the iPhone 4S, according to Taiwan-based smartphone supply chain makers.
Mainly due to hot sales of the iPhone 4S, Apple recorded the largest global smartphone market share of 23.9% in the fourth quarter of 2011, followed by Samsung with 23.5% and Nokia with 12.6%, the sources cited Strategy Analytics statistics as indicating. Based on previous experience, sales of iPhone 4S will remain at peak in the first quarter of 2012 and then begin to decline, the sources pointed out.
In consideration of advantageous timing, Samsung, HTC, Nokia and LG will unveil new models of smartphones at the 2012 Mobile World Congress to take place in Barcelona, Spain, during February 27-March 1 for launch in the second quarter of 2012, the sources indicated.
Samsung Profit Rises as Surging Mobile-Phone Sales Mask LCD-Panel Slump
Samsung Profit Rises as Phone Sales Mask Slump in LCD Panels
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Galaxy smartphones helped the company’s mobile-phone sales surpass a record 300 million units last year amid competition with Apple Inc.
Galaxy smartphones helped the company’s mobile-phone sales surpass a record 300 million units last year amid competition with Apple Inc. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), Asia’s largest consumer-electronics company, reported higher fourth- quarter profit as surging phone sales offset declining earnings at its panel business.
Net income was 4 trillion won ($3.6 billion), compared with 3.42 trillion won a year ago, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a statement today. The average of 28 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg was 3.99 trillion won. Sales rose 13 percent to 47.3 trillion won, in line with a preliminary estimate announced Jan. 6.
Galaxy smartphones helped the company’s mobile-phone sales surpass a record 300 million units last year amid competition with Apple Inc. (AAPL) Samsung, whose parent group is planning a record investment this year, is introducing more phones and tablet computers to cushion slumping profits at its liquid-crystal panel business.
“They pulled off decent earnings at a time when the macroeconomic situation isn’t so good, thanks to healthy smartphone sales,” Kang Jeong Won, a Seoul-based analyst at Daishin Securities Co., said before today’s announcement. “The key now is whether the strong performance in smartphones can continue in 2012.”
Capital Expenditures
Samsung rose 0.5 percent to 1,118,000 won on the Korea Exchange as of 9:15 a.m. in Seoul, while the benchmark Kospi index was little changed.
The company will spend 25 trillion won this year in capital expenditures, including 15 trillion won in its chip business and 6.6 trillion won in its panel business, according to a regulatory filing.
Operating profit was 5.3 trillion won, in line with the company’s preliminary estimate of 5.2 trillion won.
Full-year net income fell 15 percent to 13.7 trillion won, while sales climbed 6.7 percent to 165 trillion won. Smartphone sales rose 30 percent from the previous quarter.
Operating profit at the telecommunication unit jumped 79 percent to 2.64 trillion won, Samsung said. That compares with the 2.8 trillion-won median of four analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg News. Revenue gained 52 percent to 17.82 trillion won.
Samsung overtook Apple in the third quarter to become the world’s largest smartphone seller after shipping 27.8 million units, market researcher Strategy Analytics said in October. Samsung’s smartphone sales more than tripled during the three- month period from a year ago, more than doubling the company’s market share, it said.
Smartphone Sales
Samsung probably sold about 32 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, according to an estimate from Dongbu Securities Co., helped by Galaxy devices. Apple said Jan. 24 it sold a record 37 million iPhones in a three-month period ended in December, helping the company report quarterly profit that more than doubled.
Samsung sold more than 300 million handsets, including basic types, in 2011, the company said last month. The Korean company probably will pass Nokia OYJ as the world’s biggest mobile-phone maker by the end of this year, said Kim Hyung Sik, a Seoul-based analyst at Taurus Investment Securities Co.
Profit at the semiconductor division rose 29 percent to 2.31 trillion won on sales of 9.17 trillion won. The unit’s operating profit compares with the 1.6 trillion-won median of the four analyst estimates.
Specialty Chips
Samsung is faring better than its rivals amid an industry downturn because of its diversification into specialty chips for mobile devices, analysts said. Shipments of smartphone DRAM probably more than doubled last year from 2010, according to an October forecast by researcher IHS iSuppli.
The price of the benchmark DDR3 2-gigabit DRAM slumped by 51 percent last year amid slowing personal-computer sales, according to data from Taipei-based Dramexchange Technology Inc., operator of Asia’s largest spot market for semiconductors. Chip prices have fallen to as low as a ball of rice, according to Elpida Memory Inc., Japan’s biggest semiconductor maker.
DRAM prices likely will remain at current levels through the first half of this year, with PC demand not picking up quickly, Shin Hyun Joon, a Seoul-based analyst at Dongbu Securities Co., said in a Dec. 21 report.
PC shipments in the U.S. declined for the first time in a decade last year, research firm IDC said Jan. 11.
Display Losses
Samsung’s display division, which makes flat panels for TVs and computer monitors, had an operating loss of 220 billion won, compared with an operating profit of 100 billion won a year earlier, the company said. Revenue climbed 19 percent to 8.55 trillion won.
The average selling price of Samsung’s flat-screen panels dropped 21 percent in 2011 amid stagnating television sales, according to an estimate from Dongbu Securities.
Global LCD TV shipments probably were 206 million units last year, falling short of an earlier projection of 211 million units, according to research company DisplaySearch.
Samsung bought Sony Corp.’s stake in their LCD-making venture, which was formed in 2004, for 1.08 trillion won in cash, the South Korean company said in December. Sony has predicted an eighth consecutive year of losses from TVs.
Samsung’s TV-making unit had an operating profit of 570 billion won, compared with a loss of 200 billion won a year earlier, helped by high-end models featuring 3-D functionality and Web-based services, the company said. Sales rose to 16.96 trillion won from 16.33 trillion won. Samsung plans to sell more than 50 million flat-screen TVs this year after selling about 43 million units in 2011, Yoon Boo Keun, head of the consumer-electronics business, said at a briefing in Seoul in December. The company unveiled new sets controlled by voice commands and hand gestures at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this month
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In these 3 days event, it was peaked with its special offer session which every S CSL models merely bid at 80% discounted price. The crowd had gone panic buying on every single piece and everyone was breathless with the even lower price from bid to bid. Obviously, the crowd was not sufficient with the purchase although their hands were full with hand phone sets. Unexpectedly, the crowd was too massive until the security personnel had to release the public entered the ground batch by batch and the queue was long enough to paralyzed the traffic around.
Variety of choices with the superb low price has successfully made S CSL over 10,000 units of products sold within 3 days. At the time, it has greatly rewarded the public with their beloved hand phone! This is absolutely an awesome days that everyone will forever remember and hoping for its return.
take note
| By Louis Lee |
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In order to fuel creativity, you have to think out of the box. This was exactly what S i2i, a leader in the ‘Switch Up’ to Mobile industry did when it chose the notorious Friday the 13th as its launch date for its first smart-feature mobile internet (MI) devices, “Racer” and “Latte” as a form of advertisement, which was shown widely on the home screen of said products.
The first smart-feature MI devices will be introduced regionally, and pre-loaded with its recently launched application store, “S Apps Planet”. The “Racer” and “Latte” models of MI devices were unveiled at the inauguration of the Global Innovation Centre on the same day, which will be a hub for S i2i’s innovation, product design and development talents. The designs of “Racer” and “Latte” are slim and elegantly designed, while it’s packed with features such as 3.5-inch HVGA touch screen and 2.0 megapixel cameras enhanced with face-tracking function. The “Racer” model enables internet connectivity through WIFI and EDGE technologies while the “Latte” model is enabled on EDGE and also allow for access to analogue TV.
Pricing For The Masses
Priced at less than $100 on a cash and carry basis without any lock in contracts, the “Racer” and “Latte” models will be in line with the group’s goal to cater “affordably priced smart phones” to the masses. This also serves to relinquish the commonly known high end price tag of smart phones. When asked if the low pricing of the MI devices poses a challenge to its operating margin of the group, Dr Bhupendra Jumar Modi, Chairman of S i2i mentioned that it certainly does pose a challenge to a certain extent on its margin, but it is within manageable range.
“One of the primary reasons why our smart phones are priced within such price range is because the average income of most people in Indonesia, one of our active markets, is about US$200-US$300 per month. It will technically be impossible for them to afford our smart phones if it’s priced like an iPhone or a Blackberry,” Dr Modi added.
As mentioned earlier, the “Latte” and “Racer” are both pre-loaded with applications (apps) from its app store, “S Apps Planet”. These include apps ranging from Facebook to flash games, which are commonly seen across smart phones like iPhone, Blackberry and HTC. Like a typical app store, the apps will also be categorised under “free” or “paid”.
Unique Payment For Apps
In its efforts to eliminate the need to use credit cards to pay for its apps, users can purchase the “paid” apps using the value stored in their pre-paid SIM card. This effectively eradicates the painstaking process of synchronising credit card merchants and high costs mechanisms to track and endorse its transactions.
The same theory applies for the charges of data when the user surfs the internet using the data enabled on the mobile device when WIFI is not available.
According to sources familiar with the case, talks are also in progress with local telco operator SingTel, but the outcome of said talks are still not known yet and might need more time to unfold.
This could very well be the beginning of yet another revolution in the smart phone world. As consumers, all you need to do is smile along.
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BK denies below???tats why halted for clarification for 1 whole day??? funny right
Published January 14, 2012
S i2i eyes higher end of cheap
handset market
It launches two models with prices that grazes the three-digit
mark
By JOYCE HOOI
HANDSET maker and
Internet telephony firm S i2i, which caters to the masses for whom
the latest iPhone or Blackberry is beyond their means, is making
inroads into higher-end phone territory in a bid to fatten its
margins.
T
DR MODI
'In
India and Indonesia, 60-70 per cent of market share belongs to
handsets with a price of less than US$70.'
The handsets will be
available in retails stores such as 7-Eleven here in March. Before
this, both models were sold in markets outside of Singapore, but
without the preloaded app store.
Priced at less than $100
- a fraction that of an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy - these models are
an upgrade for consumers in S i2i's two main markets, Indonesia and
India, as they represent a departure from the average price point of
$25-30 to one that grazes the three-digit mark.
Smart-feature phones are
handsets that resemble smartphones, but unlike the latter, do not
have an open operating system that allows third-party developers to
create apps for the platform.
Instead, S i2i provides
these apps through their app store - S Apps Planet - that offers a
mix of in-house work and agreements with app developers. It has deals
with game publisher Gameloft and other app heavyweights, such as
Facebook, Google and Yahoo.
S i2i chairman and Indian
billionaire Bhupendra Kumar Modi is upbeat about the prospects of the
lower-end cousin of the swanky smartphone. 'In India and Indonesia,
60-70 per cent of market share belongs to handsets with a price of
less than US$70,' he said.
For the quarter ended
June, S i2i sold about two million mobile phones, Dr Modi said. Its
sister company, Bombay-listed S Mobility (formerly Spice Mobility),
sold another two million units.
While S i2i is
positioning itself somewhere between the high-end smartphones and the
no-brand phones that clog emerging markets, Dr Modi is mindful of the
pressure on margins. 'We're trying to keep the cost under control,'
he said, adding that the higher-end Racer and Latte models have
higher margins than their cheaper predecessors.
S i2i spent the large
part of last year on an acquisition spree, and while revenue almost
quadrupled for the fiscal half year ended Sept 30, costs have
ballooned as well, leaving the firm with a net loss of US$24.4
million.
This is likely to take
one to two years to turn around.
'We are going to cut the
losses as far as the cash losses are concerned,' said Dr Modi, who
was in town for the opening of the firm's Global Innovation Centre in
Ubi, where its parent company, S Global (previously known as Spice
Global), will carry out research and development.
Dr Modi told BT that the
idea of a merger between S i2i and S Mobility, which he had been
toying with since last year, has run up against some regulatory
limitations.
'There's one issue there
because it's a cross-border merger. One company in Singapore, one
company in Bombay. That requires some changes in the law because the
laws are very traditional. Cross-country mergers are still very
difficult,' he explained.
'We're considering some
sort of understanding for how we can bring the shareholders together.
It could be a merger or a buyout or something to do with
consolidation at the top level.'
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(2-4 Dec 2011) The long waited
Malaysia International Game Show (MIGS) has finally returned to Mid
Valley Exhibition Centre (MVEC) to joint celebrate TeenFest'11
anniversary. As a renowned local brand, S CSL was also invited to
participate on such an eventful fiesta. As our regular appearance, we
launched a 3 days promotion to reward our faithful public.
In this promotion, the price range
was starting from RM9.90 to RM699 only and the listed handphones
included Switch series, Swarovski series, Party series and TouchMi
series. We have also displayed a variety of handphones for the
consumers to have a personal touch and feel experience. Furthermore,
our specialist consultants were prepared at our platform to ease our
consumers in accessing the features of our product.
The greatest sensation for the event
was created by S CSL with an absolutely friendly price of RM9.90 which
kick started the mass in getting one of the set. The crowd was
continuously accumulated until the last day and they were swamping our
counter in the destined hours to grab this undisputed lowest price. The
overwhelming buyers had induced an unavoidable traffic towards the next
doors ongoing events like Dota World Tournament 2011, etc. |
