David McQueen

"Falling volumes in the total handset market in 2009, mainly caused by the global economic downturn, are likely to lead to increased price competition. Major emerging markets, long the engine of growth for device sales and subscription counts, are not expected to escape drops in handset sales during the year, as they also experience increasing mobile penetration.

"Although none of the leading handset vendors will actively seek a price war, faced with an alternative of reduced sales volume, significant market share losses and, perhaps most importantly, unused internal production capacity, prices will fall. In this environment, the most cost efficient and flexible will prosper and, although in the short term it is likely that outsourced production will reduce, over the medium and long term, cost pressures may well see it grow.

Intense competition is forcing many vendors and operators to drastically change their business models or risk dropping out of the market as economies of scale, brand power and distribution become key metrics to determine success."

Email: david.mcqueen@informa.com
David McQueen is a Principal Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media with a key focus on mobile device developments and vendor strategies worldwide. In his role David is responsible for Informa Telecoms and Media's thought leadership in the handsets and devices space, from both a hardware and software perspective, with a slant towards new application convergence. Related work includes mobile broadband devices, assessing the needs of the market for new device segments between handsets and notebook computers to satiate the consumers' need for internet access driven by the availability of high-speed mobile networks. David has also published research on mobile broadcast TV, multimedia handsets and devices, and smartphones and mobile application platforms. David has considerable experience in the telecoms research and consulting sector and has gained first hand experience in the handset markets' needs and requirements. He is a frequent speaker and chair at international conferences and has made many presentations on current trends and future development of mobile handsets and devices. He also provides timely analysis and comment on the devices market, and is often quoted in the global business press.

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David McQueen