China's official news agency, Xinhua has reported that Ningbo Bird has taken the top slot in China as the country's largest manufacturer of cell phones, overtaking Motorola. The Zhejiang Province-based company controlled 15.01% of the market in the first half of 2003, followed by Motorola at 14.21% and TCL at 11.64% according to figures from the Ministry of Information Industry.
Overall, domestic companies sold more than 80 million handsets during the first half of this year, giving them 55.28% of the mainland market.
A recent study by Portelligent had reported that Chinese handset makers possess growing capabilities to compete, both in the Chinese domestic market, and in export markets elsewhere in the world. The product design, IC content, and feature sets of recent GSM handsets introduced in China demonstrate that Chinese handset makers - sometimes working closely with firms in Korea and Taiwan - are increasingly able to bring to market cellular phones that compare favorably with the offerings of major international competitors.
David Carey, president of Portelligent said "While still a step behind the major multinationals, Chinese handset makers are rolling out competent products with very competitive manufacturing costs. The rate of progress demonstrated by the Chinese producers and their potential threat to the current pecking order in worldwide handset market share should not be underestimated, particularly for the lower to upper-middle tiers of the market."
Posted to the site on 3rd September 2003
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/9639.php