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New big players are emerging in the mobile phone industry. The Financial Times said Thursday that the U.S.' Apple, Canada's Research in Motion (RIM) and China's ZTE joined the ranks of the world's 10 largest mobile phone makers in 2007, "underlining how technology advances and emerging markets are producing a new cast of winners and losers in the industry."
Apple released its iPhone in the U.S. and Europe last year. The touch-screen phone became a mega global hit and transformed the computer maker into the 10th largest handset manufacturer in the fourth quarter of 2007.
In terms of the sales volume, RIM became the sixth largest handset maker with the success of its BlackBerry smartphone.
But perhaps the most interesting new entrant is ZTE, the Chinese telecoms equipment maker that is starting to give established western rivals, such as Nokia, a run for their money. ZTE's success was also directly linked to the poor performance of Motorola.
Motorola saw its share in the global market drop by 9.6 percentage points from 21.5 percent in 2006 to 11.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. The firm was elbowed out of emerging markets by competition posed by ZTE's cheaper phones.
Research firm Gartner predicted that Motorola¡¯s market share will tumble further this year. Nokia, the world's largest cell phone maker, captured a 40.4 percent share. Samsung Electronics, which came second, is also increasing its market share thanks to Motorola¡¯s poor performance.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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