Overseas phone firms smarting over losses in market

International mobile phone companies have begun sell- ing low-priced smartphones in China as they struggle to turn the tide in their battle with their Chinese rivals， according to China Daily report.

Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc announced that it had joined China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd， the country’s secondbiggest telecom operator， to introduce a smartphone priced at about 1，000 yuan ($158). The Motorola XT390， the first lowpriced smartphone to be brought into China by an international brand， is a 3.5-inch device that

runs on Google Inc’s Android 2.3-based operating system.

Previously， prominent overseas brands mainly tried to sell mid- to high-priced smartphones， which usually cost more than 2，000 yuan each.

Motorola’s announcement came more than half a year after a Chinese phone maker introduced a smartphone priced at about 1，000 yuan. In June， 2011， ZTE Corp and China Unicom released the Blade V880.

The ZTE phone achieved unexpected success in the domestic market and once was the second most popular smartphone in China， following only Apple Inc’s iPhone handset.

In the 10 months leading up to March， China Unicom shipped 11 million smartphones priced at about 1，000 yuan， said Lu Yimin， president of China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. None of them was produced by international phone makers.

Following Motorola， HTC Corp， a Taiwan-based smartphone maker， announced that it would also bring a lowpriced smartphone， the 4-inch HTC Desire V， to the mainland starting on April 16.

Since 2005， international companies have seen their share of China’s mobile phone market shrink greatly. Such companies held more than 56 percent of that market， measured by shipments， in 2005. But the figure declined to less than 30 percent by the end of 2011， according to a white paper issued by the China Academy of Telecommunication Research.

Comment

Although international phone makers have reviewed their plans and have begun to enter the burgeoning market for low-priced smartphones， it is doubtful that they will be as successful as their Chinese rivals or gain back the market shares they have lost.