Mobile Phone Shipments Down For 13th Straight Month In July
TOKYO (Nikkei)--Shipments of cell phones and PHS (personal handyphone system) devices tumbled 30.4% on the year to 2.62 million units in July, marking the 13th month in a row of declines, according to data released Wednesday by an industry group.
The latest data from the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association showed that shipments were roughly half of the 5.34 million units shipped in July 2007. With mobile phone service providers rolling out installment payment structures for handsets in 2006-2008, cell phone users appear to be waiting longer to replace their existing units.
Also, the economic downturn appears to be sapping consumer spending on such items as mobile phones. While smart phones have been popular among college students and businessmen, an official at a major handset manufacturer predicts that sales of such devices will only account for about 10% of the handset market's annual sales of 30 million units, at best.
Sluggish sales of mobile phones come at a time when development costs continue to balloon. As a result, the industry could see the consolidation of operations among major handset manufacturers. For instance, NEC Corp. (6701), Hitachi Ltd. (6501) and Casio Computer Co. (6952) are currently hammering out details of a planned integration of their mobile phone development operations around next April.
Others are looking to expand abroad to offset shrinking demand in Japan. Sharp Corp. (6753) entered the Chinese market in 2008 and is working to bolster its European sales in fiscal 2009
The latest data from the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association showed that shipments were roughly half of the 5.34 million units shipped in July 2007. With mobile phone service providers rolling out installment payment structures for handsets in 2006-2008, cell phone users appear to be waiting longer to replace their existing units.
Also, the economic downturn appears to be sapping consumer spending on such items as mobile phones. While smart phones have been popular among college students and businessmen, an official at a major handset manufacturer predicts that sales of such devices will only account for about 10% of the handset market's annual sales of 30 million units, at best.
Sluggish sales of mobile phones come at a time when development costs continue to balloon. As a result, the industry could see the consolidation of operations among major handset manufacturers. For instance, NEC Corp. (6701), Hitachi Ltd. (6501) and Casio Computer Co. (6952) are currently hammering out details of a planned integration of their mobile phone development operations around next April.
Others are looking to expand abroad to offset shrinking demand in Japan. Sharp Corp. (6753) entered the Chinese market in 2008 and is working to bolster its European sales in fiscal 2009
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