Cell Phone Vendors Face New Competitive Threats

ABI Research identifies two new competitive threats to the dominant cellular handset vendors. First, major brands from the larger consumer electronics market are entering the cellular handset market. Second, the analysts see an emerging trend among mobile service providers to source handsets directly from Original Design Manufacturers, particularly in Asia.


These threats are explored in the latest update to the ABI Research Wireless Handsets Quarterly Service, which details global trends in wireless handsets.

Sharp Electronics Corp., long a major name in electronics from air conditioners to TVs, has increasingly been encroaching in the cellular handset market in two ways.

First, although they have not been conspicuous as a manufacturer of cell phones in the domestic U.S. market in the past, Sharp's handsets are starting to appear there in numbers high enough to register as a growing market share.

More importantly, Sharp has a major hidden presence in the fastest-growing segment of the handset market, because they make many of the camera modules that are incorporated in handsets from other vendors. This gives Sharp the enviable advantage of enjoying a double revenue stream from the handset market.

Lance Wilson, ABI Research's director of wireless research, said that while Sharp has begun to take market share,

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