VietNamNet Bridge – Mobile phone manufacturers all have noted the growing tendency of people using low cost smart phones worldwide, including in Vietnam, and they have to get adapted to this.

The low cost smart phone market segment is small, accounting for 20 percent of the smart phone market. However, it is large enough for a lot of brands to join.

Even the big guys in the technology world have also kept an eye on the market. BlackBerry, Lenovo, Philips, Motorola, Alcatael, Huawei, ZTE and Mobell all have brought their products to Vietnam.

Meanwhile, low cost product market segment is the main “territory” of Vietnamese brands, including Mobistar, Q-mobile, FPT and Viettel.

Of these, Mobistar and Q-mobile have been joining the market for a long time, therefore, they have been better known.

FPT, the Vietnamese biggest technology group, launches its new products sometimes. Six models bearing F-Mobile brand have been marketed so far.

Viettel has 30 models in its product range, while six smart phone models have been available at the retail chains.

Low cost smart phones are understood as the products priced between VND1.5-3 million. Retailers all have said that these are the best sellers.

Nguyen Duc Hung, a senior executive of Nguyen Kim distribution chain, said low cost products’ sales just make up 20 percent of the total turnover, but the number of sold products accounts for 60 percent.

Hung has noted that in the current economic difficulties, both manufacturers and retailers try to boost the sale of low cost products, though the products can only bring low profits.

The buyers of low cost products are numerous, who are the ones who try to get used to smart phones instead of feature phones.

Doan Van Hieu Em from The Gioi Di Dong, also a big mobile phone distribution chain, has noted that more and more low cost smart phone models have been marketed, which target the current feature phone users.

“With the modest price level of VND2 million, consumers would not have to think much to buy a smart phone,” Em said.

Also according to Em, despite the low profits, the low cost product market is still fiercely competitive.

While the big guys compete in the market with their well-known brands, newly emerged brands compete with the low prices. Retailers have noted that though the big technology groups such as Samsung, Nokia, HTC, Sony or BlackBerry also join the low cost market, they would not gather strength there, because the more cheap products they make, the bigger losses they would incur.

Therefore, domestic brands have been dominating the low cost product market. However, experts think that the domestic brands’ value is faint, because their experiences and capital remain weak.

Retailers also asserted that Lenovo, Alcatel, Sharp and Huawei, the foreign brands less known than other foreign brands, would easily dislodge domestic brands from the domestic market.

Lenovo with A390, A706, B770, for example, has caught the high attention from customers.

Mobell, after stopping the cooperation with the importer VHH, has opened its office to import products and trade in the Vietnamese market.

Sources have said that Huawei are preparing to conquer the market segment. Samsung is going to launch diversified products at different price levels. Nokia has been launching medium class products Nokia 520/620, and Nokia 625 in some days which is priced at VND6 million.

SGTT