The mobile handset devices market has seen it all. From the advent of the iPhone in 2007, mighty players in the industry such as Nokia and BlackBerry have been vanquished and yet others (such as Samsung) have made mobile devices a key pillar of their growth engines.

 

In emerging markets, device vendors are coming out with remarkably affordable and feature-rich devices that include high-definition screens, high-resolution cameras, frequency modulation (FM) radios, MP3 players, all bundled with accessories like free memory cards, dual-SIM touchscreens and pre-loaded with multimedia players.

 

One thing is for sure. This market is primed for disruptive emerging market vendors who can and will take market share away from device vendors offering $1000+ phones!

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IEMR's Device Practice helps our customers navigate this disruption. Based on our Global Enterprise and Consumer Telecoms Panels, we can provide our clients with a micro-segmented view of their specific go-to-market that will allow them to position and succeed in their respective markets.

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With the dominance of Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market (at least in the United States and large parts of Western Europe) and the dominance of the iOS and Android platforms, other handset manufacturers globally are faced with the challenge of being relevant to customers while at the same time diversifying their product base to include other devices such as tablets, smart watches, etc. in their portfolios. Here, localization in specific markets and micro-segmentation will be a crucial component of how successful a handset vendor is going to be in a particular market. Demand for applications is also spurring demand for smartphones running on some platforms and away from others. 

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IEMR's Devices Practice takes a highly localized approach to the strategies that both vendors and carriers need to use in order to succeed in their local markets. While we know that demand for air interfaces such as CDMA2000 1xRTT, EDGE, GPRS, CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, HSDPA/HSPA and UMTS/WCDMA is declining in favour of LTE handset shipments, our research in various markets show that there is a vibrant and growing demand for handsets with specific air interfaces, particularly as carriers approach the end of their 2G, 3G network life cycles. 

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IEMR has helped both vendors and carriers develop and execute on realistic handset portfolio strategies and tactics. From a carrier perspective, we have helped Tier-2 and Tier-3 carriers compete with their incumbent Tier-1 peers by implementing a differentiated handset strategy that caters to specific niche market segments. For vendors, we have helped them better understand the market dynamics impacting their sales in specific markets and helped them position their product in both pre-paid dominant and post-paid dominant markets.       

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