Global Insight Perspective | |
Significance | Motorola has unveiled five new handsets including both GSM and CDMA standards and incorporating mobile broadband technologies. |
Implications | The company's experiences in the CDMA market, despite growing uncertainty about CDMA, could offer an opportunity for the company to boost its market share at the expense of GSM-only vendors such as Nokia. |
Outlook | Although the new handsets would attract widespread interest, the possibility of matching the shipment volumes for RAZR seem slightly too optimistic. |
Mobile handset giant Motorola has unveiled five new handsets, with plans to commence shipment before the end of the year. The five handsets—MOTOKRZR, MOTORIZR, MOTORAZR xx, MOTORAZR maxx, and MOTOSLVR L7c—include both GSM and CDMA technology standards and incorporate mobile broadband technologies (HSDPA, EV-DO). Unveiling the new handsets, the company said it expects shipments to reach similar volumes in 90 days as those recorded for its flagship model RAZR. "I believe all the devices we launched tonight will have similar launches to RAZR in the first 90 days," said Ron Garriques, president of the company's mobile division. "After that it's really the market." The company shipped 750,000 RAZR handsets in its first quarter in the market and has shipped more than 50 million to date.
MOTOKRZR (KRZR): At one centimetre less than the width of the RAZR, the KRZR is a sleeker device that should appeal to fans of its illustrious predecessor. It is available in both a GSM variant and a CDMA variant, and comes with a complimentary Motorola H601 Bluetooth headset.
MOTORIZR (RIZR): Motorola's first GSM slider phone is aptly aimed at giving consumers the ability to slide rather than flip a phone. It also comes with a complimentary Motorola H800 Bluetooth headset.
MOTORAZR xx and MOTORAZR maxx: These are essentially upgrades of the RAZR model with the added ability to connect to HSDPA and EDGE.
MOTOSLVR L7c: An upgrade of the SLVR model enhanced with EV-DO connectivity, it also has an integrated GPS-based functionality ideal for location-based applications.
Outlook and Implications
- Further Gains in Market Share: The breadth of the five new handsets is a big boost to Motorola's quest to challenge bigger rival Nokia for dominance in the mobile handset business. Thanks to its RAZR model, Motorola's market share has climbed from about 17.7% in the second quarter of 2005 to an estimated 22.0% a year later. With the capabilities of the new models coupled with their similarities to the popular RAZR model, the company stands a chance of replicating the RAZR's success (see World: 20 July 2006: Motorola Lauds Handset Market Share Gains).
- GSM plus CDMA: At a time when there is growing uncertainty about the fate of CDMA as a standard for mobile communication, Motorola has launched handsets aiming to consolidate further its market position in CDMA. Its bigger rival, Nokia, pulled out of the market in June, citing unfavourable prospects for CDMA. Similarly, several hitherto CDMA operators are either ditching their CDMA network for GSM or running a dual GSM-CDMA network. But Motorola seems unperturbed, and has shown it has a clear plan to cater for the mobile broadband needs of CDMA users with its EV-DO enabled handset (see World: 4 July 2006: The Battle of the Standards - GSM versus CDMA, 3 July 2006: GSA Report Confirms Operators Ditching CDMA for GSM, and 22 June 2006: Nokia Ditches CDMA Pact with Sanyo, Goes it Alone).