SINGAPORE: North Asia is light years ahead of the other Asian sub-regions in terms of mobile service innovation and revenues, thanks to countries like Japan, which is expected to launch LTE in 2010 -- likely to be the first in the world -- and along with South Korea, are two nations with the highest ARPU levels in Asia-Pacific (Japan at $53.20 per month in 2008 and South Korea at $38.04).
Despite such heavyweights and market saturation in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, juggernaut China ensures that mobile subscriber growth will most certainly continue.
The North Asian region is expected to be home to just over one billion mobile users by the end of 2009, representing a year-on-year subscriber growth of 15.3 percent; China alone will house 80 percent of that billion.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, 2009 North Asia Wireless Outlook, finds that the mobile subscriber base in the region -- covering five North Asian nations including Japan -- grew 10.1 percent year-on-year to reach 878.1 million users in 2008, accounting for nearly half of the total mobile subscribers in Asia-Pacific (18 countries) last year.
Forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 7.7 percent (2008-2014), North Asia's mobile subscribers are expected to surpass 1.37 billion users by end-2014.
Mobile services in North Asia are expected to gross an estimated $183 billion in revenues this year, and are forecasted to reach billings of $229.8 billion by end-2014, at a CAGR of 5.2 percent (2008-2014).
"The bulk of this growth, both in terms of subscribers and revenues, will naturally be driven by China," says Frost & Sullivan senior industry analyst Jeff Teh. "With a mobile penetration rate of just 51.6 percent in 2008, China remains the largest and one of the fastest-growing mobile services market in the world."
Hong Kong's mobile penetration rate stood at 133.2 percent in 2008, Japan at 86.5 percent, South Korea at 94 percent, and Taiwan at 110.9 percent.
In Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, Teh believes that growth, however marginal, will be driven less by subscriber addition and more by data usage prompted mainly by mobile broadband and 3G service uptake.
Even so, just barely, "We expect intense price competition in these markets with the vast majority of mobile data subscribers using flat-rate plans," he explains. "The primary challenge for operators here would be to differentiate their services to maintain average subscriber revenue and manage churn," Teh adds.
Given the high degree of competition, Teh expects operator revenues in these markets (ex-China) to grow at a low CAGR of under one percent from now till 2014.
Mobile operators in China however are expected to bill close to $85.7 billion by the end of 2009, and close the year 2014 at revenues of $132.6 billion -- for a CAGR of 13 percent (2008-2014) -- and 1.15 billion subscribers.
In 2008, China had 687.2 million subscribers, accounting for 78.2 percent of North Asia's mobile users; Japan -- 110.4 million (12.6 percent); South Korea -- 45.6 million (5.2 percent); Taiwan -- 25.6 million (2.9 percent); and Hong Kong -- 9.3 million (1.1 percent).
Showing posts with label Taiwan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taiwan. Show all posts
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Friday, July 11, 2008
iPhone 3G launched! What users say
Right then! The D-day is today... the much awaited Apple iPhone 3G has been launched!
Buyers in New Zealand and Japan were among the earliest to get their hands on the new iPhone. Evidently, the Apple lovers are over the moon and can't stop gushing about the great features that the new phone has!
All that's fine!
How can the Apple iPhone 3G help boost data usage? How can it help operators raise the ARPUs? Or, will a high-end phone still be used for voice and data? Will it change the fortunes of the memory market? What impact will it have on the semiconductor market as a whole? We will have the answers to most of these questions by the end of this year, and in some cases, over the next year or two.
Will there be a shift in brand loyalty -- for example, from say, Nokia to Apple -- even that remains to be seen. Surely, the likes of Nokia, Samsung, SonyEricsson and LG would not be sitting quietly and see the thunder being stolen from them!
Will there be a surge of touchscreen phones all over the world? Probably yes. I've had a touchscreen MP4 player with camera since late 2005, but I never really liked that touchscreen, as it always dirties the nice little LCD. Anyhow!
Coming back to the iPhone 3G, I've had some interesting conversations with several of my friends across the globe, specifically, Asia.
From Hong Kong, a friend told me that the demand there can be reflected by the fact that there are over 60,000 registrations for buying the iPhone, with today being the official launch day!
However, another friend's response, who's actually not an admirer of Apple, simply said that he doesn't even feel the slightest inclination to even check it out!
From Taipei, Taiwan, a good friend shared the thought that compared to the previous model, the 3G iPhone seems to be cheaper. However, people have been saying that the case is made of plastic and does not feel that good than the previous metal material.
Another friend is thinking of buying the iPhone HTC Diamond or 3G, as the iPhone will not be available in Taiwan till 3Q-08. However, this friend added that some Apple fans plan to buy it via bid Web sites.
A friend from the Philippines, who's now relocated to Hong Kong, sent me a list of URLs where there are long discussions about the Apple iPhone. The comment -- People are going nuts though… the demand is of 60,000 and only 500 units are available!
Yet another, who moved to Hong Kong from China, adds that iPhone 3G has been launched in Hong Kong bundled with 'expensive' mobile phone packages. Maybe, the fever is a bit lesser, for Apple fans.
Next, a friend from Auckland, New Zealand, very kindly sent me a link titled Who bought the World's first iPhone 3G! Apparently, that honor goes to 24-year old Jonny Gladwell, who, at exactly one minute past midnight, walked into the Vodafone store on Queen Street in Auckland and bought the world’s first iPhone 3G, after spending over 50 hours on the street!
Wow! Talk about building up some demand!! It's really good to see this global craze regarding a consumer electronics product! The buzz is surely back, for now!
Buyers in New Zealand and Japan were among the earliest to get their hands on the new iPhone. Evidently, the Apple lovers are over the moon and can't stop gushing about the great features that the new phone has!
All that's fine!
How can the Apple iPhone 3G help boost data usage? How can it help operators raise the ARPUs? Or, will a high-end phone still be used for voice and data? Will it change the fortunes of the memory market? What impact will it have on the semiconductor market as a whole? We will have the answers to most of these questions by the end of this year, and in some cases, over the next year or two.
Will there be a shift in brand loyalty -- for example, from say, Nokia to Apple -- even that remains to be seen. Surely, the likes of Nokia, Samsung, SonyEricsson and LG would not be sitting quietly and see the thunder being stolen from them!
Will there be a surge of touchscreen phones all over the world? Probably yes. I've had a touchscreen MP4 player with camera since late 2005, but I never really liked that touchscreen, as it always dirties the nice little LCD. Anyhow!
Coming back to the iPhone 3G, I've had some interesting conversations with several of my friends across the globe, specifically, Asia.
From Hong Kong, a friend told me that the demand there can be reflected by the fact that there are over 60,000 registrations for buying the iPhone, with today being the official launch day!
However, another friend's response, who's actually not an admirer of Apple, simply said that he doesn't even feel the slightest inclination to even check it out!
From Taipei, Taiwan, a good friend shared the thought that compared to the previous model, the 3G iPhone seems to be cheaper. However, people have been saying that the case is made of plastic and does not feel that good than the previous metal material.
Another friend is thinking of buying the iPhone HTC Diamond or 3G, as the iPhone will not be available in Taiwan till 3Q-08. However, this friend added that some Apple fans plan to buy it via bid Web sites.
A friend from the Philippines, who's now relocated to Hong Kong, sent me a list of URLs where there are long discussions about the Apple iPhone. The comment -- People are going nuts though… the demand is of 60,000 and only 500 units are available!
Yet another, who moved to Hong Kong from China, adds that iPhone 3G has been launched in Hong Kong bundled with 'expensive' mobile phone packages. Maybe, the fever is a bit lesser, for Apple fans.
Next, a friend from Auckland, New Zealand, very kindly sent me a link titled Who bought the World's first iPhone 3G! Apparently, that honor goes to 24-year old Jonny Gladwell, who, at exactly one minute past midnight, walked into the Vodafone store on Queen Street in Auckland and bought the world’s first iPhone 3G, after spending over 50 hours on the street!
Wow! Talk about building up some demand!! It's really good to see this global craze regarding a consumer electronics product! The buzz is surely back, for now!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
