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Technology Stocks : Nokia (NOK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Eric L who wrote (18712)	3/11/2002 5:54:36 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 34857

Mobile handsets suffer from saturated markets By Robert Budden, Telecommunications Correspondent Published: March 10 2002 18:39 \| Last Updated: March 10 2002 18:59 <<COMMENTS: The heat is on to press for MMS working by next sales season Thanksgiving to Xmas 2002. Like I said: It is MMS or bust! Networks, Terminals and prosumer applications.>> Mobile phone handset manufacturers suffered their first decline in sales last year, as new subscriber growth in the saturated markets of Europe ground to a halt. Figures from Gartner Dataquest, the research group, reveal global handset sales last year reached 399.5m, a 3.2 per cent decline on 2000, the industry's best year for sales. Nokia, the world's largest handset manufacturer, dramatically improved its dominant position, grabbing 35 per cent of the market, up from 30.6 per cent in 2000, mainly on the back of strong handset sales aimed at lower-end users. Analysts are eagerly awaiting the launch of Nokia's latest handsets, to be unveiled tomorrow, to gauge whether its latest models are appealing enough for it to maintain its position. But the real surprise story came from the Korean manufacturer Samsung, which increased its market share by 37 per cent with over 28m handset sales, led mainly by strong reception to some of its upmarket phones. Analysts said some users, particularly in the youth market, were treating mobiles more like fashion accessories and were upgrading to top-end models. But overall there was a marked slowdown in replacement sales last year, according to Gartner. "We do think people are looking to replace phones but they are looking for something to replace it with," said Ben Wood, senior analyst at Gartner. "We think the real impetus for people to change phones will come as more manufacturers launch handsets with colour and new applications." But he said that even where sales had been disappointing, "sexy upmarket products remain great for brands. Manufacturers need top-end models to be aspirational to consumers." Sales were also hit last year by the emerging second-hand market for handsets, particularly in eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. A sharp reduction in subsidies on pre-pay phones also dramatically hit sales, a development which has hit smaller manufacturers such as Philips, Alcatel and Sagem which focus on the low-end market. Sales of GPRS phones, the interim technology between 2G and 3G which allows users to download web information, were poor. Last year just 2 per cent of all handsets sold were GPRS phones. However, manufacturers are hoping this will increase this year as mobile operators roll out more data services. The continued strength of European operators is good news for Symbian, which is battling with Microsoft to dominate the market in handset operating systems. Symbian has relationships with 70 per cent of manufacturers by market share, although Microsoft is slowly gaining ground through its link-up with Samsung.

To: Eric L who wrote (18712)	3/11/2002 9:26:45 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 34857

companies will launch a "NonPC ISP Consortium". Notch another one Eric! slb.com Japan's Sanyo, Toshiba, Others To Ally In ISP Business By Michele Yamada TOKYO, March 11 (Dow Jones) - The Internet service providers affiliated with four Japanese electronics firms said Monday they will ally in their broader Internet businesses to strengthen profitability. Printer-friendly version E-mail to colleagues The four ISPs are Sanyo Electric Co.'s (SANYY or 6764) Sanyo Electric Software Co., Toshiba Corp. (J.TOS) group's Toshiba Information Systems Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (J.MBE or 6503) group's Dream Train Internet Inc. (J.DTI), and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (MC or 6752), which directly operates its "hi-ho" Internet access service. Amid stiffening competition to provide the gateway for millions of Internet users in Japan, the tech giants have been weighed on by their money-losing ISP operations. The four companies said they will consider sharing each other's Internet network backbone and launch joint research to provide Internet services for non-personal computers - devices that provide Internet and e-mail access, but normally don't have much data storage or omit word processing applications. The companies will launch a "NonPC ISP Consortium" and conduct research and development on the next generation of the Internet protocol called IPv6, or Internet Protocol Version 6, which some claim will fix the problems in the current generation of the Internet protocol (IPv4), which is running out of available Internet addresses. The companies said they also hope to develop and operate joint Internet portal sites and content services. The nation's top-ranked ISP, Nifty, owned by Fujitsu Ltd. (J.FUT or 6702) is in talks with Sony Corp. (SNE or 6758) for a possible sales tie, while NEC Corp.'s (NIPNY or 6701) BIGGLOBE ISP service faces a similar dilemma in figuring out how to keep subscribers. The growth of the Internet access via satellite and optic fiber cables has also been a threat to these providers. Copyright (c) 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.