The 2015 World Mobile Communications Conference (MWC 2015) was held in Barcelona from March 2nd to 5th. Annette Zimmermann, research director of international research and consultancy Gartner, put forward the following points in view of the latest development of the mobile market on the eve of the exhibition:
Question 1: The mobile phone has been invented for more than 30 years and has become an integral part of human life. Mobile phones are becoming smarter, more and more influential and faster. But where exactly is the next step in smart phones?
Analysts' point of view: As the smart phone market enters a highly mature stage, the difficulty of differentiating higher-order products also increases. Last year, various smartphone manufacturers focused on imaging capabilities and large screens. Both hardware and software are upgraded, such as optical anti-shake (OIS), advanced image editing tools or high-resolution front-facing lens to enhance the user experience.
As the timeline enters 2015 and beyond, the boom in consumer filming or “selfie†will continue. We expect that manufacturers will also invest more effort in camera and image quality. Apple's success in 2014 and its new record in the fourth quarter are even more impressive. The company is bound to launch more innovative products in 2015, and sales volume is likely to hit new highs again.
Firms with price wins such as Chinese white-label manufacturers will still benefit from the continued growth of smartphones in emerging markets. According to Gartner estimates, the installed base of smart phones in Latin America was 50% in 2014 and 30% in sub-Saharan Africa, representing the first upgrade of feature phone users in these regions in 2015. The business opportunities for smart phones will be considerable.
We predict that as the manufacturers must respond to this new market uncertainty in the euro zone currency conversion, which may lead to price increases, the competition in the mobile phone market in 2015 will be even more intense.
Second, small businesses such as Wiko have also begun to enter the mobile phone market and they have performed quite well. For beginners such as Kodak and Polaroid, who do you think will be able to disrupt the existing ecology of the mobile phone market in the short term?
Analyst's point of view: The phenomena that Wilko set off are quite interesting. A company that was unrecognized two years ago is now capturing the European mobile phone market. At present, it has been ranked among the top five smart phone manufacturers in France, and its products have recently entered the German market. Wiko's success factors include localized marketing and excellent access management, plus a product price range of 100 to 150 euros that most people can afford.
Undoubtedly, competitive features and acceptable quality have attracted those consumers who are tightly pocketed and will not chase internationally renowned brands. In this case, consumers only want to buy Android devices that can use all their due applications. They are only willing to pay a lower price.
Another interesting newcomer in the mobile phone market is Kodak, which launched the first Android smartphone in conjunction with the Bullit Group at the CES exhibition in the United States in January. As the brand name suggests, the phone's marketing focus is on powerful imaging capabilities, easy and easy photo sharing, and photo printing via a customized user interface. Although Kodak's brand awareness is high, it is still not easy to break into the highly competitive mid-range smart phone market.
Microsoft has developed one of the best camera phones on the market in the past three years, and its high-end and mid-range mobile phone products have continued to feature this feature. How Bullitt Group and Kodak can successfully market new smartphones in Europe will be an interesting focus of observation.
Question 3: What is the outlook for the wearable market in 2015?
Analyst's point of view: We expect the wearable market to show strong growth in 2015, with the number of tracking devices such as smart watches and fitness wristbands approaching 70 million, an increase of 38% from 2014. However, we believe that these devices will not replace smartphones in the next five years but will become auxiliary tools for existing devices. This year will be a very interesting year for wearable devices. At present, the wearable market penetration rate is still relatively low, but in the long term there is an opportunity to grow in double digits. Gartner predicts that 504 wearable devices will be sold in 2020.
From a vendor's point of view, Apple Watch is bound to trigger consumer interest in wearable devices, and Samsung, Sony, Lenovo and other brands will surely introduce more attractive products with a shorter length. In addition to hardware, vendors will also emphasize ecosystems and how to find synergies from the associated markets.
Samsung, Google, Apple and Microsoft have prepared to build a comprehensive medical and health platform to attract healthcare and fitness companies to become partners. Such a strategy will start a new business model, but in the end how to protect sensitive data collected from wearable devices is bound to cause heated debate. In addition, most manufacturers still have room for improvement in terms of applications and ecosystems related to wearable products.