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Motorola and Foes II

While Samsung was the most prominent of all Motorola rivals that had the opportunity to end up with the shiny end of the deal when Motorola got stuck with the short stick, all top mobile cordless phone OEMs were able to extend the reach of their market share at expense of Motorola’s recent losses. Nokia, one of the leading handset OEMs, was able to achieve 1.9 percentage points of share, Sony Ericsson had 0.7 of a point while LG Electronics experienced a boost in its rank by 0.9 of a percentage point.

“To get back in the mobile handset race, Motorola must improve its product mix by offering attractive high–end, highly profitable 3G models—especially in Europe,” says Teng of the iSuppli. “The company also needs to cut operating costs. It’s likely that Motorola will need at least another two quarters to regain its competitive position.”

Nokia

Industry ace Nokia continued to outperform others in the market in the second quarter, shipping 100.8 million units of mobile cordless phones, running up 10.6 percent from its previous count of 91.1 million in the first quarter of 2007. The mobile-handset leader gained a 37.9 percent market share in the second quarter. The result is that the company was able to widen the gap even further between itself and the No. 2 player in the consumer electronics communication industry. The gap measures to about 23.8 percentage points, up from 22.2 points in the first quarter. In addition, Nokia also made a public announcement that informed the industry of the slight improvement in the company’s ASP, climbing to $122.8, which is up from $117.4 in the first quarter.

The dynamic second-quarter operating margin of Nokia reaching 20.9 percent can be taken as a form of testament to the laudable performance of the company’s supply chain. Efficiency as well competence are two of the most distinct qualities that Nokia’s supply chain has and makes it quite distinct from its market rivals. The only setback that Nokia had to contend with in the second quarter report was the decline in the shipments to North America, as it dropped by 4.1 million units from 5.2 million during the same period of the previous year.

LG Electronics

Ranked at number 5 in the second quarter, LG Electronics of South Korea declared the highest sequential growth rate among all of the Top-5 mobile cordless phone manufacturers, at 20.9 percent. Mobile cordless phone shipments of the company climbed to 19.1 million units from 15.8 million in the first quarter.

This signified quite a major opportunity for the company which had found itself struggling with dismal operating margins as well as poor sales in Europe for more than two years since. The second quarter marked the first time that LG was able to announce an operating profit market that went beyond the usual 10 percent since the year 2004.

This remarkable change in operating profit margin introduces the notion that LG’s product mix now enjoys a more extensive line-up of premium products sold at a higher price queue. LG in the second quarter upped its volume shipments of GSM mobile cordless phones in a number of locations: in Central America, South America and Europe and in its home South Korean market.