Motorola has been ranked at the top of the latest Vendor Matrix released by ABI Research.
Nokia claimed the second spot, while Samsung and LG were ranked equally in third place in the company’s most recent evaluation of ultra low cost handset vendors worldwide.
The Vendor Matrix is an analytical tool developed by ABI Research to provide a clear understanding of vendors’ positions in specific markets. (For the purposes of this Vendor Matrix, an Ultra Low Cost Handset is defined as a mobile phone with a retail price below US $50.00.)
According to industry analyst Shailendra Pandey, “Motorola has the strongest patent portfolio in GSM technology and got a head start in the ULCH market. Having won the tenders for the GSM Association’s Emerging Markets Handset initiative, Motorola provided 12 million ULCHs to emerging markets in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.”
“However,” he adds, “Nokia is catching up quickly. Recent quarters have seen a big slump in the financial performance of Motorola’s mobile devices business, so it will be difficult for them to maintain a leading position in the low margin ULCH market for long. Nokia on the other hand will benefit from the fact that it holds a much higher share of emerging markets and also has better and more well-established distribution networks.”
ABI Research evaluates vendors on the basis of Innovation and Implementation by selecting multiple criteria related to product/company characteristics. Upon evaluation, vendors are assigned numerical scores that are aggregated and analyzed to provide overall rankings.
For this particular matrix, under "innovation," ABI Research examined IP portfolio, handset user interface, battery life, product line segmentation and product differentiation, local language support, product life cycle, and packaging.
Under "implementation," ABI Research scrutinized the following: ULCH shipments, ULCH ASP, distribution setup, ULCH handset market share, the existence of local manufacturing facilities, the number of ULCH models, whether the vendor was first to market, overall handset margins, operator partnerships, overall handset ASP, brand equity, second-hand resale value, ODM partnerships, and overall handset market share.
To view a list of the “top ten” firms in this Vendor Matrix, please visit
Ultra Low Cost Handsets Vendor Matrix. Registration on the ABI Research website (free) is required. Access to the rankings and profiles of all companies surveyed is available to clients of ABI Research.
This Vendor Matrix forms part of ABI Research’s Mobile Devices Research Service. For a list of all ABI Research Vendor Matrices, please visit The ABI Research Vendor Matrix.
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