M-commerce companies would most likely be drooling at the sight of
the latest survey findings from research agency NFO World Group - Hong
Kong, which revealed that mobile telephone penetration rates across Asia
continue to skyrocket.
Hong Kong, where owning two mobile phones is not unusual, had the
highest penetration rate of 89 per cent. Korea and Taiwan followed close
behind.
China's primary cities of Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing also turned in
a respectable 48 per cent. Expect that to grow rapidly over the next few
years.
A majority of the markets studied by NFO found that one brand dominated
over many others.
In Hong Kong, for instance, 51 per cent of respondents said they owned a
Nokia phone compared with just 12 per cent for second-placed
Motorola.
A similar situation was found to exist in Singapore, Malaysia and
Korea.
However, in China, Taiwan and Japan, competition was keener among the
top brands. In China, just two percentage points separated Motorola and
Ericsson, while in Taiwan there was a three point difference between
Nokia and Motorola.
MAKE OF PHONE OWNED BY RESPONDENTS (%)
CHINA HONG KONG TAIWAN SINGAPORE
Motorola 24 Nokia 51 Nokia 40 Nokia 59
Ericsson 22 Motorola 12 Motorola 37 Motorola 17
Nokia 18 Ericsson 10 Ericsson 6 Ericsson 10
Siemens 11 Siemens 7 Panasonic 4 Siemens 7
MALAYSIA KOREA JAPAN
Nokia 48 Samsung 46 Panasonic 22
Motorola 16 LG/LGIC 26 NEC 13
Ericsson 15 Motorola 11 Sharp 9
Siemens 9 Alcatel 4 Toshiba 8
