RifcoMobile

These days, a number of mobile phone companies are investing a lot of money in their advertising campaigns. The rationale behind massive advertising campaigns is the promotion of the various products and services that these companies have to offer. In today’s mobile phones market many latest phones with free gifts are already selling like hot cakes. Some of the mobile phone companies that are competing to gain a wider customer base across the globe include major players like Nokia, Motorola, LG, BlackBerry and Samsung. Besides manufacturing innovative mobile handsets, these companies are increasingly experimenting with new product promotional ideas. This creates favourable marketing conditions by arousing public interest in their products. A successful and often-tried marketing gimmick practised by these mobile phone companies involves the launch of latest mobile phones with free gifts. The incentive of lucrative gifts that come free of cost acts as a stimulant for drawing customers. In today’s cut-throat competitive market, its the all-crucial question of the struggle for survival and survival of the fittest.

The offer of latest mobile phones with free gifts is welcomed by all the prospective customers as they feel they will be rewarded and so by investing for a product (in this case the mobile phone) they will eventually end up with two or more products for the cost of one. We human beings tend to judge our efforts against a return on investment index. These companies intelligently harness this human inclination to suit their ends. Most of the companies have slashed down prices so as to make mobile phones more affordable for financially - constrained customers and to fend - off competition from rival firms. Not only this, these companies have floated a number of customer – friendly tariff plans too. Some of these mobile phones come with free gifts that includes free laptop and Nintendo Wii.

Today’s technologically - savvy generation is ever-willing to embrace such lucrative gift offers. In this day and age, a laptop has become an absolute - must for business executives, public officials and students. Then again, gaming consoles like Nintendo Wii are also pulling crowds with their promise of providing that adrenaline-rushing thrill to its players besides giving them a chance to mingle with their family in the refreshing activity of sport indulgence. Today’s fashion-conscious lifestyle demands that people should stay abreast of the latest trends. Mobile phone companies like Nokia, Motorola, LG, BlackBerry and Samsung are not blind to this need of their clientèle and so they have stepped - up their efforts to improve the packaging of mobile handsets. As a result, more and more number of customers have started going for these ultra-stylish and highly sophisticated mobile phones. These phones integrate the best of technology like touchscreen TFT display with amazing combinations of pixels for delivering sharp images. Best connectivity features like GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi Bluetooth and USB port have also been installed in them. Not forgetting the embedded memory feature that can be extended using microSD (TransFlash). Besides these, the huge attraction of a GPS receiver and built- in camera only goes on to enhance the value of these mobile phones.

Given such a market scenario where companies posit their esteemed customers as Royal Kings and remain literally full of hospitality to them,the customers only need to make the most of the deals that offer latest phones with free gift.

Visit our online mobile store to grab a latest phone with attractive free gifts like free Sony PSP, free Nintendo wii, XBOX 360, Video iPod and free Sony PS3.

A growing consumer appetite for converged devices boosted last years sales of smart phones to over 64 million units but further eroded the dwindling market share of unconnected personal digital assistant (PDA) products, according to analysts.

The sale of converged devices (units that can function as phone, camera, entertainment console, PDA and Web-application platform) rose by as much as 42 per cent during the final quarter of 2006.

Standalone handhelds posted their largest fall yet, down 41 per cent compared to the same period last year, the U.K.-based research firm Canalys.Com Ltd. said.

“The message to vendors here is that they need a converged connected device in their line up,” said Pete Cunningham, senior analyst for Canalys.

“The PDA market has been on a downward trend for some time,” agrees Kevin Restivo, senior analyst for consultancy firm SeaBoard Group in Toronto.

Market leaders such as Research In Motion (RIM) of Waterloo, Ont. and Palm Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., have been vigorous in adding consumer enticing features such as Web browsing and e-mail pushing capabilities to their products, to stay in the top five list, said Restivo.

The Canalys survey said some 22.1 million smart mobile devices were shipped during the fourth quarter of 2006.

Finnish phone company Nokia remained the market leader accounting for 50 per cent of all mobile device shipments. The company shipped 11.1 million smart phones for the period. The phones equipped with the Symbian S60 open source operating systems, particularly the N73 devices, drove up the volume.

Despite increasing pressures from competitors in the mobile e-mail space, RIM performed well during the quarter shipping some 1.8 million devices.

“Sales of its new Pearl smart phone, positioned as a more consumer-oriented e-mail device than its other models, helped RIM increase overall device shipment by 54 per cent and maintain the lead in North America,” said Canalys.

Motorola Inc. came in third with 1.4 million devices shipped during the period. Severely affected by the fall in handheld sales, fourth ranked Palm shipped about 1.2 million devices.

Another global survey conducted by Gartner Inc. found that shipment of handheld mobile devices rose by 18.4 per cent to 17.7 million in 2006.

The Gartner survey said RIM’s BlackBerry unit retained the top spot for PDA devices shipped, accounting for 10 per cent or 3.5 million units shipped for the year. Palm’s PDA shipments slid by 29 per cent to less than 2.8 million units from last year.

The Gartner poll indicated an overall growth in demand for wireless access to e-mail and the Internet. According to the research company, 60 per cent of the devices shipped last year were equipped with cellular connectivity.

Canalys said “although Palm had new smart phones on both Windows Mobile and Garnet OS platforms in Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Asia-Pacific region, its usually strong, consumer-led Q4 was impeded by a fall of 45 per cent in worldwide shipments of handhelds, in line with market trends.”

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, pulled in at number five with some 1.1 million units shipped.

Another 5.4 million devices were shipped by other vendors.

In 2007, Canalys expects to see some increased activity around devices using the Linux OS as vendors move away from older proprietary phone operating systems.

Microsoft mobile OS “will receive a boost” from the arrival of new models and new brands using Windows Mobile 6.0, said Canalys.

The research firm, however said, it will be hard to catch up with Symbian “particularly if it provides a competitive foundation for consumer-oriented smart phones at the lower price points that market demands.”

After working for a few large IT firms Read born in 1966, is currently an entrepreneur and Venture Capital Advisor and Managing Consultant for Wireless and Mobile technologies [including the internet] and in particular, in software applications for the Wireless or Mobile Industry.
http://www.craigread.com/

SOURCE:

http://www.torwug.org/Articles/newsletters/Mar2_2007/ar_03.asp