Wednesday, 14 March 2007

Chinese Mobile Users Predicted to Surpass 600 Million by 2010

China’s mobile phone users will surpass 600 million by 2010. There will be a decrease in the cost of a handset and airtime fees, a Government forecast said. In this year alone, China's mobile phone users is predicted to out pass 520 million, up from 460 million in 2006, the Ministry...

China’s mobile phone users will surpass 600 million by 2010. There will be a decrease in the cost of a handset and airtime fees, a Government forecast said.

In this year alone, China's mobile phone users is predicted to out pass 520 million, up from 460 million in 2006, the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) said.

More fixed-line users will choose to use cell phones as the price of handsets drop, along with a decline in airtime charges, it said.

China brought in its first mobile phone telecommunication facilities in 1987. It took ten years for mobile phone users to reach 10 million. Four years later, the country had the largest number of mobile phone subscribers in the world.

The Ministry predicts China's fixed-line users will top 400 million by 2010.

Mid-December 2006, an IDC research on mobile and smartphone subscribers had come up with results that top global brands are in demand in emerging countries such as India and China.

The research detailed that the Chinese subscribers want stylish branded phones rather than technology behind the equipment.

In India too, high-end products like the Nokia 9500 Communicator are doing well as they are iconic of style and wealth.

"When you look around the world there is a growing prevalence of premium brands in emerging markets among populations with substantially lower income levels," said Randy Giusto, group vice president for IDC's Mobility, Computing and Consumer Markets research.

"Brands such as Nokia, for example, dominate the Indian and Chinese markets from a market share perspective and are much sought after because of the image that they project."

Global sales of smartphones almost tripled from 2004 to 2005, and increased by 50 per cent in the first half of 2006 over 2005, new research has reported.

According to data from In-Stat, the surge in demand for next-gen handsets is being accompanied by an escalating battle for smartphone operating system dominance.

"There are two reasons for caution, in spite of spectacular sales," said In-Stat analyst Bill Hughes.

"Many smartphone users continue to carry the very devices that smartphones are meant to replace, and have been slow to add new applications to their devices. Most users have only downloaded a few applications."