Mobile phone companies expect robust sales this year
Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Cellular-phone makers are optimistic sales will continue to increase this year on the back of strong market potential.
The limited availability of fixed-line services in the country should provide a greater opportunity for mobile phone manufacturers to sell more handsets, industry players said.
The number of mobile phone users in this country is projected to jump to 15 million this year from over 9 million last year. This growth is the largest in the Southeast Asian region.
More encouraging for the existing manufacturers is the limited number of cell phone brands currently available in the large market.
The handset manufacturers declined to disclose their sales targets for this year, but said that they would launch new products to help boost sales.
For this year, Nokia Corporation, which dominates the Indonesian handset market, vows to maintain last year's business strategy.
"We will continue to provide (the domestic market) with low price products for the middle to low income segments," said Hasan Aula, the general manager of the Nokia representative office here.
Last year, about 50 percent of total mobile phone users came from this category of customers, who have the ability to buy cell phone units at prices of between Rp 1.5 million (US$168.5) and Rp 2 million.
Meiske Surjadinata, the marketing manager of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications of Indonesia said that many mobile-phone makers would continue to concentrate on this market segment.
Budiani Pardede, a Korean Air flight attendant and a long time cellular phone user, said he preferred a mobile phone that was affordable.
"The ideal price is between Rp 1 million and Rp 2.5 million," she said.
But Samsung, the second largest mobile-phone maker here, remains comfortable with its middle to high income market segment.
"We mainly focus on the middle-high income business people as our technology allows us to do so," said Lee Kang Hyun, the general manager of PT Samsung Electronic Indonesia.
Samsung is currently the market leader in developing Code Division Multi Access (CDMA) technology, which offers clearer sound, wider coverage, smoother transmission and multimedia facilities.
He added that Samsung would also give attention to younger consumer groups.
"Samsung will introduce new products with unique designs that are appealing to younger people," said Lee.
Nokia will try also to attract young people by introducing mobile phone handsets in a variety of colors.
"Colorful handsets are always appealing to younger people," said Hasan.
Meanwhile, Sony Ericsson has come up with a plan to launch more futuristically designed mobile phones this year.
"We are better prepared this year and aim to become the largest handset maker in the country," said Haliono Sugianto, the country manager for Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications.