Smartphone use may grow faster than expected —Globe Telecom

A surge in purchases of smartphones in the Philippines indicates the use of such gadgets may grow much faster than expected, Globe Telecom said Wednesday.

 

Globe said Filipino consumers bought five times as many smartphones in the first five months of 2012 compared to the same period last year.

 

"In the Philippines, the increasing affordability of smartphones has been propelling the strong growth of the sector, rendering the country as one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the Southeast Asian region," it said., citing figures from market research firm GfK Philippines. GfK report data

 

Globe said the GfK report showed consumers bought five times as many smartphones in the first five months of this year compared to a year ago.

 

This has brought smartphone sales to almost 1.7 million units as of May 2012.

 

It added Smartphones are expected to rise to account for the majority of global cellphone shipments in 2013, two years earlier than previously predicted.

 

Citing data from research firm IHS, Globe said smartphones will become the dominant mobile devices in terms of unit shipments.

 

"Smartphone shipments in 2013 are forecast to account for 54 percent of the total cellphone market, up from 46 percent in 2012 and 35 percent in 2011, according to an IHS market tracker report," it said.

 

It added the year 2013 will mark the first time that smartphones will make up more than half of all cellphone shipments.

 

Wayne Lam, senior analyst for wireless communications at the firm, said the revised outlook is a major upgrade to IHS’ forecasts that smartphones would account for over 50% of sales by 2015.

 

Lower prices, more models

 

Lam said declining smartphone prices in the past year and growth in the variety of models available has spurred “sales of both low-end smartphones in regions like Asia Pacific, as well as midrange to high-end phones in the United States and Europe.”

 

The firm forecasts double-digit growth in smartphone shipments will continue, driving the form factor’s share of overall sales to 67.4 percent by 2016.

 

For its part, Globe said it is providing a wide selection of smartphones for its postpaid plans, offering the latest Android devices such as the Cloudfone Ice for free for as low as Plan P299.

 

It also offers the Globe-exclusive Nokia Lumia 800, BlackBerry Curve 9220 and BlackBerry Curve 9320, and the Samsung Galaxy S III.

 

“With our pioneering postpaid service My Super Plan, our subscribers are empowered to choose the smartphones that best suit their lifestyles and get them either for free or at a minimum cash-out. Subscribers are given the flexibility to design their postpaid plans by choosing the best possible mix of voice, SMS and browsing services that they need, change them as often as monthly, and pay a monthly fee that’s within their reach, giving My Super Plan the ultimate edge over other postpaid plans claiming to provide freedom to their subscribers,” said Martha Sazon, Head of Globe Postpaid.

 

Globe claimed leadership in the mobile postpaid segment in the second quarter of 2012 with a 28-percent growth in subscriber base from previous year’s levels, bringing total subscriber base to 1.6 million as of end-June this year.

 

Postpaid service revenues for the first half of 2012 increased by 21 percent from last year’s levels, now accounting for 33 percent of total mobile revenues, up from 29 percent in the 1st half of 2011. — TJD, GMA News