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BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest

IT: Domestic cellphone producers see smaller market share

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-07-25 15:43

Chinese cellphone producers saw their domestic market share shrink in the
first five months of this year to 33.8 percent, down two percentage
points from the end of 2006.

The Ministry of Information Industry (MII) reported on Tuesday that the
lack of crucial technology was the major reason, which stopped domestic
producers from cutting producing cost as they had to pay high patent fees.

Their low-price strategy failed to work in competing with foreign rivals,
said the MII in a report.

Currently, domestic brands are priced only five to seven percent lower
than similar foreign ones, making it hard to attract customers with a
price advantage.

In addition, international cellphone manufacturers have promoted more
low-price phones since the end of last year. Among nearly 900 types of
phones debuted in the first five months, only 36 percent were produced by
domestic players.

China had 34 cellphone producers that produce their own brand cellphones
by May. Among them, only five sold more than two million cellphones from
January to May while 18 sold less than 500,000.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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