Filipinos put off buying new mobile phones due to crisis

Filipino consumers are not likely to buy new mobile-phone handset this year because of the global financial crisis, the International Data Corp. (IDC) said Thursday. In its Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, IDC said that mobile-phone shipments in the Philippines fell 20 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and expected to continue in 2009, as the economic downturn has impacted consumer spending adversely. The IDC added that the dramatic decline in the usually strong quarter proved that consumer mobile devices are not immune to the economic slowdown.

“Even as overall consumer spending in the country rose during the fourth quarter, consumers prioritized spending on basic holiday preparations and purchase of items that they still didn’t have rather than on a mobile-phone upgrade,” said Karen Rondon, research manager for telecommunications research at IDC Philippines.

IDC expects the negative growth trend in the mobile-phone segment to continue this year.

At end-2008, the country’s mobile-phone penetration rate stood at more than 70 percent.

Gadgets’ strong growth

But the research firm reported that the converged devices grew strongly year-on-year as vendors and channels heavily promoted new mid-range handsets particularly in the latter part of the year.

In 2008, converged devices made up 14 percent of mobile-phone shipments in the Philippines.

Converged mobile device, a subset of mobile phones, features a high-level operating system that enables the device to run third-party applications in addition to voice telephony.

Examples of high-level operating systems include Android, BlackBerry, Linux, Mac OS X, Palm, Symbian and Windows Mobile.

IDC said that converged mobile devices share many features with traditional mobile phones, including personal information management, multimedia, games and office applications, but the presence of a high-level operating system differentiates these devices from all others.

“There is still a good room for growth for the mobile-device market in the country, but recovery is expected only in 2010,” Rondon said.

IDC is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer-technology markets. It helps IT professionals, business executives and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy.  –Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter, Manila Times