The South Koreans are targeting Japanese handset manufacturers in their bid to become the world's leader in camera phones sales, according to an article in the Korea Herald.
They have a long way to go, though.
The article says Korean vendors represent 14 percent of the world's camera phone sales compared to the 60 percent from Japanese vendors. Samsung Electronics represents 11.8 percent, LG Electronics Co. has 1.4 percent and Pantech & Curitel comprises only .8 percent.
“However, the Koreas' combined market share is expected to reach as high as 40 percent as they plan to ramp up production focusing on high-end phones,” the newspaper says.
Aiming for the high end
The Koreans are going after the higher end of the camera phone market with two megapixel and three megapixel models.
The three top Korean companies will offer camera phones in about half of their models shipping this year.
The Korea Herald reports that Samsung will produce more than 33 million camera phones out of its total of 65 million handsets forecast to be shippped this year.
NEC, Nokia, Samsung as leaders
The article says that last year Samsung represented 11.8 percent of worldwide camera phone sales of 84 million units.
The top camera phone vendor worldwide was NEC with 15.5 percent of the market followed by Nokia with 13 percent, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics.
The research firm said only 16 percent of handsets sold in 2003 had cameras.
The number five handset manufacturer in the world, LG Electronics, this year is planning for sales of 17 million camera phones out of total sales of 43 million.
Third in Korea
The third largest Korean handset manufacturer, Pantech & Curitel, will be much more aggressive in offering camera phones. The Korea Herald reports the company this year is planning to ship 20 million handsets in total, of which 65 percent will be camera phones.
All three Korean vendors plan to offer three megapixel camera phones by the third quarter.
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