Samsung lags aims in mkt share, eyes touchscreen magic

Samsung has missed its target to achieve 15 per cent market share in India by the end of December 2008, but the company is betting on its 3G touchscreen devices and demand in smaller towns and rural markets to drive growth and expects to double handset sales this year.

Samsung, the world’s second largest handset maker after Nokia, has missed its target to achieve 15 per cent market share in India by the end of December 2008, but the company is betting on its 3G touchscreen devices and demand in smaller towns and rural markets to drive growth and expects to double handset sales this year.

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“We expected sharper market growth and that did not happen,” Sunil Dutt, country head, mobile business at Samsung India Electronics told Hindustan Times. Company officials said that the handset maker has ‘early double digit’ market share in India. “But we expect multimedia devices to contribute 40-45 per cent of our sales this year and we would further
strengthen our touchscreen portfolio in the days to come.”

The company on Wednesday launched an eight megapixel touchscreen camera phone, the company’s fourth 3G touchscreen device since August and the company plans to launch four more before June, including a device with High Definition (HD) recording.
According to industry estimates, close to 8 lakh touchscreen devices were sold in India in 2008 and 12 lakh units are expected to be sold by the end of 2009.

Industry experts say Samsung’s quick response to touchscreen devices helped the company post strong sales worldwide even as the slowdown impacted handset sales. “Nokia’s delay in rolling out products with touchscreen functionality caused its smartphone sales to suffer. Samsung's quick response to demand for touch interfaces was the main reason for its success,” research firm Gartner mentioned in a report.