Mobile Expo buoyed by flood
Thailand's mobile-phone market is expected to grow further this year as consumers who withheld their spending last year during the floods resume spending on new devices, Opas Cherdpunt, chief executive officer of M Vision, said yesterday.
M Vision is the organiser of Thailand Mobile Expo 2012.
Opas forecast total sales of 5 million smart phones in Thailand this year, versus about 3 million last year.
M Vision expects to see spending of Bt1.55 billion at Thailand Mobile Expo 2012, up from Bt1.480 billion at the previous fair. The four-day fair kicked off yesterday at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre. The event will run until Sunday.
Global mobile-phone makers are displaying their latest models at the event. Samsung has unveiled its latest product portfolio, including the Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet device, the Galaxy Note white edition smart phone and the Wave 3 smart phone.
Thai Samsung Electronics’ director of telecom business, Wichai Pornpratang, said it would increase the number of its “smart shops” nationwide to 1,000 this year from about 300 at present as part of its heavy focus on educating consumers on the benefits of smart mobile devices.
The shops are designed to give customers real experience of using Samsung mobile devices with the help of the company’s experts.
Wichai believes the total tablet-computer market in Thailand would grow further, but said it was hard to predict the exact number.
Samart i-Mobile is using the event to introduce six new mobile-phone models, most of which feature third-generation broadband capacity and two SIM-card slots.
The company has set a target of 3.5 million handset sales in Thailand this year.
Nokia is showcasing the Lumia 800, its first smart phone powered by the Windows Phone platform, at the fair.
