VietNamNet Bridge – HiPT has abandoned its mobile phone
Hi-Mobile just after one year of developing the brand. CMC Group has not made
any formal statements, but its BlueFone is nearly dead.
The short life expectancy of Vietnamese mobile phone brands
One year ago, in January 2011,
HiPT cherished a high hope when it jumped into the mobile phone market, which
was then relatively profitable.
However, the plan by HiPT to
conquer the mobile phone market has failed completely just after a short period
of implementation.
The document sent to the State
Securities Commission (SSC) signed by Deputy General Director of HiPT Group
Dang Minh Duc dated August 3, 2012, stated that HiPT Mobile, which makes
research and develops mobile devices Hi-Mobile, has been transferred from HiPT
to a company with unfamiliar name – Hanoi Belico Distribution Company Ltd.
When asked why HiPT does not
continue developing Hi-Mobile brand, HiPT simply said that HiPT has decided to
change its business strategy after one year of joining the market. HiPT would
not develop mobile device products to gather strength on other core business
fields.
“The new owner of Hi-Mobile would
take over all the responsibilities for the mobile phone products sold on the
market which are still in the warranty period,” an executive of HiPT said.
Sources have said that another
Vietnamese mobile phone brand, which was also brought into the world in January
2011 – BlueFone – has also fallen into oblivion. CMC, the father of BlueFone
brand, has quietly decided to stop developing the brand.
“CMC has not declared the death
of BlueFone, but it has let the brand “drift into the past,” an expert said,
stressing that it is not a surprise at all.
More manufacturers would be dead in 2012
The years 2009 and 2010 were
considered the golden age for Vietnamese mobile phone manufacturers, when a
series of models appeared on the domestic market, including Q-Mobile, FPT
Mobile, Mobistar, Mobel, Hi-Mobile, BlueFone, and Hanel Mobile.
Most of the models targeted the
low cost product market segment, which the manufacturers believed had a lot of
potential clients. Especially, the mobile phone products allow people to use
different simcards of different mobile network operators. CMC’s BlueFone brand,
for example, offered the models with four simcards, or three simcards like the
mobile phone models sourced from China.
Nearly ten Vietnamese mobile
phone brands jumped into the market, competing with each other and with foreign
brands.
However, the market became
saturated in mid-2012, sooner than previously expected. Q-Mobile, which was
once a very well-known Vietnamese mobile phone brand, has also fallen into
oblivion. The owner of the brand has recently shifted to make low cost smart
phones to earn its living. Some of its smart phone models have been launched
into the market recently with the retail prices of 1,5-3 million dong.
The current market conditions do
not support the existence and development of Vietnamese brand products. Big
market survey firms all say that the current economic difficulties and the weak
demand have led to the sharp falls in the mobile phone sales recently.
Retailers all have reported the 30 percent decrease in the sales of mobile
phone products in districts 1 and 2.
Domestic mobile phone
manufacturers have been relying on the low cost market segment and targeting
low income earners. However, low income earners prove to be the biggest
sufferers in the economic recession, therefore, they would not spend money on
luxurious products like mobile phones.
Vo Le Tam Thanh, an analyst of
IDC Vietnam, said that a lot of Vietnamese and Chinese brands have quit the
Vietnamese market, and that more brands would disappear from the market in
2012.
Source: Buu Dien
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