Events and trade fairs

Two major manufacturers revealed their third quarter results last week: Sony Ericsson suffered a 10% drop in sales, experienced a loss of € 25 Million, but retained its market share of 8%, albeit at the expense of gross margin, as prices were slashed across the board. Nokia fared a little better: no losses, but it experienced a drop in sales of 5%. Tellingly, Nokia's average price for a handset has dropped from € 74 to € 72. The market share has also shrunk from 39 to 38% So, the market is tough right? These numbers are not surprising; we have seen a high demand for the low end and smartphone categories of products on gsmExchange. Sony Ericsson is not particularly strong in either of these categories and therefore had to slash its prices in order to compete in the low end. On the other hand, it will be interesting to see whether the Xperia model it recently launched will do the trick for Sony Ericsson when it comes to smartphones. It's difficult to tell; at the moment on gsmExchange, we have more demand than supply for the Xperia. This is hardly surprising, as the model hasn't really started shipping yet. On the other hand, 7 out of 10 sales requests and 4 out of 10 offers on our platform are for Nokia models, which indicates that much of the wholesale market is focusing its trading activities on the safe end of the market. Nokia's share price is trading close to a five year low -- a tough market, indeed. These days we hear of Storms every where. Two weeks ago the financial markets experienced a record drop, followed by a significant rebound last week, and governments throughout the world are rushing to save their banking institutions by pumping trillions into the financial system. And perhaps it is fortuitious, but Blackberry could not have thought of a more timely name for their latest model: Storm! The eagerly anticipated Blackberry smartphone is expected to be a strong rival for the iPhone. Apart from a touchscreen with a virtual keyboard, built-in GPS with rumored turn-by-turn navigation and a more powerful camera, Storm users will also benefit from dowloadable applications available from an App Center similar to those we've seen from Apple and Google's Android. One obstacle to the Storm's success may be that, unlike its smartphone competitors, it isn't equipped for WiFi, potentially turning off users who are used to finding WiFi as a standard feature. We hope you are faring well despite all the turmoil. One thing you definitely need in order to succeed in your market is up-to-the-minute trade information. We recommend you log on to gsmExchange.com as often as you can, post your offers and requests, get your trade matches, follow them up and take advantage of every opportunity that is out there. Remember, we are here for you. We love to hear from you: let us know how your business is doing and how we can help you.

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