Apple's ranking in China smartphone market falls to No.6: IDC

[ahfatzia]

(Reuters) - Apple Inc's rank in China's smartphone market, which is set to become the world's largest this year, fell to No.6 in the third quarter as it faced tough competition from Chinese brands, research firm IDC said on Thursday.

IDC's announcement comes a day after Apple's shares fell more than 6 percent on the Nasdaq, logging its biggest single-day loss in four years and losing $35 billion of its value, on concerns about rivals gaining ground in the mobile devices market.

China, already the world's biggest mobile phone market, is seeing competition intensifying in its smartphone sector, with global and homegrown vendors trying to outgun one another in terms of price and features.

Underscoring that, Nokia announced on Wednesday it is to partner China Mobile, the country's largest wireless carrier, in a sales deal that will give the Finnish company an opportunity to win back some Chinese market share from Apple's iPhone.

Apple saw its third-quarter ranking by market share fall two notches from its position in the second quarter, IDC said. Its market share by shipments was under 10 percent in the third quarter, when China's smartphone shipments hit a record high, at more than 60 million units, the research firm added.

However, IDC analysts expect a rebound with the launch of the iPhone 5 in China in December. Apple last week received approval from regulators for the sale of the iPhone 5 in the country.

Galaxy-maker Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's No.2 PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd and global No.2 telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd retained the top two and No.5 spots, respectively, IDC said.

Chinese brand Coolpad made a three-spot leap to No.3 in the country, but ZTE Corp dropped one place to No.4 in the July-September period, IDC said. The research firm did not give the market share numbers of any company except Apple.

"Chinese vendors Coolpad, Lenovo and ZTE made it to the Asia Pacific ex-Japan top 5 vendors on strong performance in their home market, showing that it is not impossible for Chinese vendors to surpass international vendors," Wong Teck-zhung, a senior market analyst at IDC, said in a statement.

GENEROUS SUBSIDIES

China now has more than one billion mobile phone subscribers though less than a fifth are 3G subscribers.

The country's three mobile carriers, China Mobile, Unicom and Telecom have been doling out generous handset subsidies to try to attract higher-end users keen on online gaming and social networking.

Chinese vendors are also offering smartphones in the sub-1,000 yuan ($160) category.

"Price continues to be king," Jeff Lorbeck, senior vice president for U.S. mobile chip maker Qualcomm's product management, told reporters in a conference on Thursday.

"The local China brands are becoming increasingly important in both the carrier channels and open-market channels, so a lot of the tier 1 global brands are being displaced by China's local brands."

Apple's ranking in China smartphone market falls to No.6: IDC | Reuters

 

[veekysingh]

i never knew ZTE makes smartphones too.

 

[djsjs]

i never knew ZTE makes smartphones too.

ZTE made over 80 million mobiles in 2011 and only 12 million of them are smartphones.2012 should be better .

 

[veekysingh]

ZTE made over 80 million mobiles in 2011 and only 12 million of them are smartphones.2012 should be better .

pictures would be nice , thankx in advance

 

[djsjs]

U985(Current price：￥1999 $321)
网络模式：GSM，TD-SCDMA
网络类型：单卡双模
外观设计：直板
主屏尺寸：4.5英寸 1280x720像素
触摸屏：电容屏，多点触控
摄像头像素：前：130万像素，后：800万像素 ...
操作系统：Android OS 4.0
RAM容量：1GB
ROM容量：4GB
电池容量：1800mAh
蓝牙传输：支持蓝牙3.0
GPS导航：支持

 

[Skull and Bones]

U985
网络模式：GSM，TD-SCDMA
网络类型：单卡双模
外观设计：直板
主屏尺寸：4.5英寸 1280x720像素
触摸屏：电容屏，多点触控
摄像头像素：前：130万像素，后：800万像素 ...
操作系统：Android OS 4.0
RAM容量：1GB
ROM容量：4GB
电池容量：1800mAh
蓝牙传输：支持蓝牙3.0
GPS导航：支持

Front looks identical to Samsung Galaxy S.

 

[veekysingh]

in just 2000 rmb? wow

 

[djsjs]

are you refering to this one?
they looks like the same. both have a screen and a front camera，both black.We can find more similarities if required.

 

[djsjs]

in just 2000 rmb? wow

I do not think the price is advantage.we have many better choices at this price level.
Meizu MX2 ￥2499

Xiaomi 2 ￥1999

 

[veekysingh]

I do not think the price is advantage.we have many better choices at this price level.

well , price is an advantage for sure , how about quality of these mobile? we dont have chiense smart phones in indian market , what chinese mobile we have are very poor quality and aren't user friendly.

 

[djsjs]

well , price is an advantage for sure , how about quality of these mobile? we dont have chiense smart phones in indian market , what chinese mobile we have are very poor quality and aren't user friendly.

some of those mobile phone manufacturers can not even sell one phone in China.luckily ,nice indian people give them life.

Our mobile phone manufacturers performed well in Europe, perhaps the Indian consumers more critical.

 

[ChinaToday]

Rory in China: Lenovo's quest to be cool

China's Lenovo is on a roll. It has just been named the world's number one PC seller, and it has rapidly won the number two spot in mobile phones in its home market.

But the company knows it lacks one thing - even in China it isn't seen as a cool brand.

Eight years ago, Lenovo's takeover of IBM's PC division transformed a virtually unknown brand into a global contender.

It has built on that acquisition, renewing products like the Thinkpad, and in October, the research firm Gartner said the Chinese company had finally overtaken the long-term market leader HP.

But at Lenovo's headquarters in Beijing they know the contest is not over and they now have a new task - to build a brand which consumers love as well as respect. "My goal is that one day Lenovo can be recognised as one of the hundred most valuable brands in the world," says Arthur Wei.

This fast talking marketing executive who came to Lenovo from HP has already taken the company from nowhere to number one in the Russian market, and has been rewarded with a major role at headquarters.

Olympic designer

In an exhibition centre showcasing Lenovo's products over the years, Mr Wei proudly plays me a video of a recent launch, where a new laptop was unveiled in a glitzy fashion show attended by a crowd of excited celebrities. This, he indicates, is where a company that for years made dull beige boxes at keen prices is heading now.

But upstairs in Lenovo's design centre is the man who is vital to changing consumer perceptions of the business. Dressed casually in jeans and a grey turtle neck sweater, Yao Yingjia is Lenovo's equivalent of Apple's design guru Sir Jonathan Ive.

Mr Yao was the first industrial designer to be brought into the company in the 1990s. In 2008, he led the team which designed the Olympic torch for Beijing and he now heads a team which obsesses over the look and feel of every new product.

Caressing the Yoga Thinkpad - a laptop which converts into a touchscreen tablet - he talks in terms that sound remarkably similar to those employed by Apple's Sir Jonathan: "It's creating a new emotion," he says.

"It really touches the customer."

The Yoga is a good indicator of the thinking of a company that rejects the idea that the PC is dead but talks of a "PC plus" strategy.

Recognising that much of the innovation is now in the mobile computing area, Lenovo has been building a strong position in China's smartphone and tablet market, and is now moving into other territories.

It describes its approach as "protect and attack" - protect its lead in markets like China, while attacking new territories and product areas.

"It took us four years to become number one in Russia by utilising the attack strategy," says Mr Wei.

"We're also number one in India, and in Germany and Japan. So the attack strategy not only works in emerging markets but in mature markets too."

Foreign favourites
Yet for all this success, go out on China's teeming shopping streets and Lenovo's brand still seems to need some polishing.

The devices that attract attention and envy are those made by Samsung - whose Galaxy Note appears to be the smartphone of choice for young IT professionals - and of course Apple.

Chinese consumers have been snapping up Lenovo smartphones, but at far lower prices than what they seem willing to pay for an iPhone or a Samsung device.

In a Beijing apartment, we gathered a small focus group of three savvy consumers who worked in IT and asked them to name their favourite gadgets.

Each had an iPad, and on the coffee table there were phones made by Samsung, Nokia and Apple - but none named a Lenovo device as something they would show off to their friends.

When I asked them why that was the case, one man explained it like this. "I would brag about it, but only because it's a Chinese product - we have lower standards for homemade products."

Made in Hong Kong

Back at Lenovo's HQ, a guide showed me around an exhibition devoted to Lenovo's history.

It starts with a replica of the post-room or security cabin where a handful of people, all members of China's Institute of Computing, started the company in 1984.

Then there is the first product, an accessory for PCs allowing them to display Chinese characters for the first time - a big moment for early computer users in China.

But getting a licence from the government to make computers proved tricky, and it was in Hong Kong that the first PCs under the brand name Legend were produced.

The exhibition comes right up to date with the smiling faces of the men who hatched the IBM deal, and then the products that have emerged since.

Mr Wei, who spent his early career abroad working for American firms before heading home top China, says Lenovo's success has been about continually reinventing itself.

"If you keep pushing yourself as a start-up company, you're fighting for survival even though you're number one," he says. "That's the reason this company has a chance to win."

For executives like Mr Wei and Mr Yao, being number one is not enough.

They want consumers the world over to brag about owning Lenovo products, and they believe they are well on the way to making that happen.

BBC News - Rory in China: Lenovo's quest to be cool

 

[MandarK]

well , price is an advantage for sure , how about quality of these mobile? we dont have chiense smart phones in indian market , what chinese mobile we have are very poor quality and aren't user friendly.

We do have chinese smartphones in India. huawei is selling smart phones in India. My friend had one but he lost it.

 

[danger007]

some of those mobile phone manufacturers can not even sell one phone in China.luckily ,nice indian people give them life.

Our mobile phone manufacturers performed well in Europe, perhaps the Indian consumers more critical.

I know that chinese are smart... that is why they choose better life phone... because they know about the quality....
that is why they are exporting to those who don't know about the chinese capabilities....

 

[veekysingh]

We do have chinese smartphones in India. huawei is selling smart phones in India. My friend had one but he lost it.

i never seen one.