Mobile Phone Industry Essay Example

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It took the mobile market, about 15 years to reach the first quarter of the world’s population but it took less than 5 years to reach the next quarter of the world’s population. The worldwide subscriber base has shown growth in recent years and has reached the 50% penetration mark in 2008. With more sophisticated devices comes more evolved usage of those devices such as salespeople taking product placement and promotion audits . Built-in video devices help salespeople to show off the company’s latest promotions. Now companies are not only enabling their technicians (with prompts and checklists) to capture information, but also equipping them with the necessary information to sell complementary products with appropriate packages, promotions, and discounts.

While it took 100 years for landline phones to spread to more than 80% of the countries in the world, their wireless descendants did it much early. So it's safe to say that the mobile phone may be the most prolific consumer product ever invented. In the last decade, no other device has been diffused with humans as rapidly as mobile phones. The invention and diffusion of information and communication technologies are said to be revolutionizing work and family life. Wireless mobile devices increase the scope for work and family flexibility by enabling the micro-coordination of time, tasks, and schedules. This is particularly significant as people are now working at times and places outside of the traditional workday and place.

It is widely believed that technologies like the mobile phone and e-mail are blurring boundaries between personal life and the workplace. While for some commentators these developments represent a threat to the quality of modern

life, for others they represent new opportunities for integrating the spheres of work and family. To date, social research on the mobile phone has been limited and has yet to be consolidated into a body of evidence about its social impact. The first commercial mobile phone service was launched in Japan by NTT in 1978.

By November 2007, the total number of mobile phone subscriptions in the world had reached 3. billion, or half of the human population (although some users have multiple subscriptions or inactive subscriptions), which also makes the mobile phone the most widely spread technology and the most common electronic device in the world. By 2007 over 798 million people around the world accessed the internet or equivalent mobile internets services such as WAP and i-Mode at least occasionally using a mobile phone rather than a personal computer. The country which broke the record of mobile phone users in the world at the end of 2007 was China. The number of mobile phone subscribers in China is 320 million at the end of the first quarter of 2008 according to sources there was a rise of 55. 081 million users over the end of the previous year 2007.

On average, China has 5. 5 million new mobile phone subscribers in the first ten months of this year. At the end of 2008, it is expected that there would be 24. 8 mobile phones for every one hundred Chinese. The business of short message also witnessed a sharp rise of 62 percent year on year to more than 1760.

06 billion messages in the first six months of the year of 2008. Ten Most Expensive mobile

until recently, the vast majority of mobile phones had been priced between $180 and $550, with only Vertu, a division of Nokia, manufacturing uber-premium phones. With prices starting at around $7,400 Vertu phones are only for the filthy rich, and the super famous. However, Vertu’s monopoly of the luxury phone market is coming to an end with the launch of several new luxury mobile makers, including Gresso, Mobiado, and Goldvish.

Other mobile phone manufacturers are also partnering with luxury brands to produce a range of premium mobile phones, such as LG and Prada, D and Motorola, and now Tag Heuer and Models. Finally, there are the ridiculous, super-expensive one-offs, made purely for headline-grabbing, such as Goldvish’s “Le Million”, worth a cool $1,000,000 Goldvish “Le Million” = $1,000,000 A PR stunt it may be, and they surely can’t expect to sell any, but the Goldvish “Le Million” is officially the most expensive mobile phone in the world, according to the Guinness Books of Records. There’s even been talk of a $1. 3 million phones, but this has fewer diamonds than the Goldvish, so I can’t see where the extra expense comes from. The “Le Million” is a one-off, featuring a blinding 120K worth of VVS-1 grade diamonds, according to designer Emmanuel Gueit.

If $1 million is out of your price range, the Geneva-based Goldvish also offers several other diamond-encrusted 18K gold models in your choice of rose, yellow, or white, starting at a much more reasonable $25,600. Vertu Signature Cobra = $310,000 Vertu is now taking orders for the Signature Cobra, designed by French Jeweller Boucheron, but you had better be quick as only 8 pieces are being

made. The Cobra will feature one pear-cut diamond, one round white diamond, two emerald eyes, and 439 rubies. Vertu will also be offering a “cheaper” version, ruby-free, at $115,000. Sony Ericsson Black Diamond = $300,000 Apparently the Black Diamond will be available in 2007, not from Sony Ericsson but by a company called VPN.

Initially, only 5 unique numbered pieces will be available for the unbelievable price of, wait for $300,000. With regards to the specifications, don’t expect anything remarkable for your money. It will have Quad-band with Wi-If, an Intel 400Mhz processor running windows mobile 5, and a touch-sensitive 2? Screen. It will also include internal memory of 128Mb and will come with a 2Gb SD card for external storage, plus a respectable 4-megapixel camera. The designer Jaren Goh has used some pretty impressive materials for the build, featuring titane with polycarbonate, mirror-finish cladding, and diamonds.

Vertu Diamond = $88,000 The Diamond is Vertu’s premium range of high-end mobile phones. As the name suggests the handsets in the Diamond range are diamond-encrusted handsets made from platinum. Only 200 pieces of the handsets are being produced. The most expensive is believed to be worth an estimated $92,000. Motorola V220 Special Edition = $51,800 Austrian designer Peter Alisson, has taken a standard Motorola, studded it with 1,200 diamonds, and added a keyboard inlaid with 18K gold.

The outcome is a $51,800 handset, suitable only for footballers and film stars! Gold Edition Nokia 8800 Phone = $2,700 If you have $2,700 to spare, you can now buy the Nokia 8800 in 24K gold. However, be warned, if you think you’ll be getting a better phone for your extra cash, you

won’t! The features found on the Gold Edition are the standard 8800 features, which are pretty basic. It includes a 0. 5 megapixel SVGA camera, 64 MB of internal memory, 64 voice polyphonic ringtones, FM radio, MP3 player, video recording, and 180 minutes Talktime. However, the Gold Edition does include a special edition box and charging dock.

Mobiado Professional EM (wood) = $1,900 The Mobiado Professional EM, is a wood-clad upgrade of their earlier Nokia-based phone that includes a 1. 3-megapixel camera, music player, FM radio, Bluetooth, and according to Mobiado, it’s the first production phone with Titanium buttons. Only 200 pieces are being made and each one has its limited number engraved on the back. At $1,900 however, you’re still paying an awfully high premium for a fairly basic phone encased in wood! Bang & Olufsen (Samsung) Serene = $1,250 Bang & Olufsen hooked up with Samsung to design the sleek but unconventional Serene.

It’s not a bad-looking phone and it even has a built-in motor to assist you in opening and closing the phone. It’s not very practical, however, requiring a special screwdriver to access the battery and the SIM card, and its circular keypad will take some time getting used to. Also, for some strange reason, they have positioned the camera lens on the side of the device, which will make it difficult to align snapshots via the viewfinder on the display. Lamborghini 8800 Sirocco from Nokia The Lamborghini Nokia 8800 Sirocco is another special edition, like the previous launch, Aston Martin branded Sirocco.

It will ultimately be a standard 8800 Sirocco but with the addition of the famous Lamborghini logo engraved on the front

and the back, plus ball bearings from the auto company to in the slider phone mechanism. The Lamborghini phone will be a limited edition with only 500 pieces being made.It will also feature Lamborghini graphics as wallpapers, screensavers, ringtones, and even has a short documentary video about the Lamborghini. Gresso Luxury Phone The Russia-based Gresso, is a new entry into the luxury phone market.

Their apt name “Gresso Luxury Phone” is made of gold and African Blackwood. Apparently, they will be releasing a collection of five models called the Black Aura collection, and the designer is a “well-known” Italian designer. Currently, there are two versions of the African Blackwood phone, one with pink gold highlights named the Gresso Blackwood Gold Edition, and one made entirely of African Blackwood. In addition to the two African Blackwood phones, Gresso also makes a phone made entirely of pink gold named the Gresso Gold phone. Initially, the phones will be on sale only in Russia. The top Five Mobile Phone Vendors are Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and LG Electronics.

Top Five Mobile Phone Vendors, Worldwide 2007 Results Vendor 2007 Unit Shipments 2007 Market Share 2006 Unit Shipments 2006 Market Share 2007/2006 Growth

1. Nokia 133. 5 40. 0% 105. 5 35. 2% 26.5%
2. Samsung 46. 3 13. 9% 32. 9 11. 0% 40.7%
3. Motorola 40. 9 12. 2% 65. 7 22. 0% -37.8%
4. Sony Ericsson 30. 8 9. 2% 26. 8.7% 18. 5%
5. LG Electronics 23. 7 7. 1% 17.7 5. 9% 33. 6%

Others 58. 8 17. 6% 51.5 17. 2% 14. 2%

Total 334. 0 100. 0% 299. 3 100.0% 11. 6%

Top Five Mobile Phone Vendors, Worldwide Full Year 2007 Results

Vendor 2007 Unit Shipments 2007 Market Share 2006 Unit Shipments 2006 Market Share 2007/2006 Growth

1. Nokia 437. 1 38. 2% 347. 5 34. 2% 25.8%
2. Samsung 161. 1 14. 1% 113. 7 11. 2% 41. 7%
3. Motorola 159.0 13. 9% 217. 4 21. 4% -26.9%
4. Sony Ericsson 103. 4 9. 0% 74. 7 7.3% 38. 4%
5. LG Electronics 80. 5 7. 0% 63. 5 6.2% 26. 8%

Note

The above figures are in millions except for percentages