HTC Smart - face of the new mass market smartphone
Last week's MWC reinforced the trend for smartphone capabilities to filter down the handset food chain
Published: 22 February, 2010
READ MORE: HTC | O2 | Handset | Android
Continued ...
Steve Adler, VP of devices at Telefonica Europe, said affordability and complexity are major barriers to mass adoption of smartphones. "They are costing more than laptops," he said. "We as operators hide that cost in the way we put subsidies in," but it is still there. O2 will target the prepaid base, particularly users aged between 16 and 22.
In non-O2 territories, other carriers will use the Smart to pursue a similar strategy - among them, KPN in the Netherlands, Telecom Italia in Italy and Netcom in Norway. Florian Seiche, a VP at HTC Europe, said the vendor was getting "daily requests to extend that footprint".
The trend for mass market smartphones could open up opportunities for non-traditional vendors, although this will be largely a game of scale. Once Samsung and LG get more serious about Android, they will be best placed to dominate that platform, although HTC is making a good play to achieve critical mass in the meantime, on Android and Brew. Nokia, of course, is virtually guaranteed to sweep the midrange market on the Symbian front.
However, until the giants consolidate their positions, there may be inward routes for other players. For instance, Alcatel Mobile Phones introduced its first Android phone, the OT-980, at Mobile World Congress. It sports a touchscreen, vertical slider Qwerty keyboard, Wi-Fi and HSDPA and will ship in June at an unsubsidized price point of below €200.
Unlike most Alcatel phones, which are targeted at developing economies, this will be marketed mainly in Europe, with the UK, France, Spain and Italy the prime markets because the firm believes the Alcatel brand is strong there. Alcatel Mobile Phones is owned by TCT Mobile of China, which acquired the business from what is now Alcatel-Lucent several years ago but kept rights to the brand. Like other Chinese players like ZTE and Huawei, it aims to use affordable smartphones as the route to gain a presence outside developing markets.
Pages: 1 | 2
More HTC News
More TELEFONICA O2 EUROPE News
More HANDSET News
COMMENTS
Carrier Broadband Performance: Africa & Middle East
Carriers are using mobile broadband as their weapon of choice in the fight against the commoditization of voice and falling ARPU. This...
Voice over LTE: Market Analysis and Forecasts
VoLTE offer unique advantages in lowering a carrier's voice infrastructure economics and promises to improve voice quality, device...
Satellite Phones: Will Dual Mode Help the Phoenix Rise from the Ashes?
Satellite phones have followed an arduous path since their much-hyped launch more than a decade ago. The hype was followed by an e...
