14 DAY TRIAL // South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung, the worldwide second runner in the mobile phone market, has reportedly managed to secure and maintain the leadership on the UK market, sending Nokia, the global handset leader, on the second position. The company is said to account for around 30 percent of the market in the country for over two months now, and is expected to enter 2010 as the leader.
Samsung was trailing Nokia since the beginning of the year, it seems, and managed to gain the first place even if the Finnish giant dropped prices for some of its handsets. “It’s only natural for some companies to instigate a price-led offensive but it’s short-sighted and not sustainable. We have clearly proven that proposition-led marketing campaigns, such as 'Genio Touch' works for everyone in the value chain and this will continue to be our strategy,” Samsung UK and Ireland vice president Mark Mitchinson said in a statement, reports mobilenewscwp.
“Samsung’s brand presence and loyalty has increased dramatically over the past year. Our approach , product mix and reliability continues to resonate with customers and consumers alike. We recognize and appreciate the support we’ve had from customers. But this is not the time to break open the champagne. There is more we want to accomplish in the New Year,” he also added.
For the upcoming 2010, Samsung is set to focus more on the smartphone area, and it aims at delivering to the market a series of new handsets that will run under various mobile operating systems. Moreover, the company will also aim at increasing users' awareness on its smartphones, Mitchinson stated. The handset vendor has recently unveiled officially its own smartphone platform, bada, and was rumored to exclude Symbian from its future roadmap.
Another mobile phone maker that managed to rise on the UK market is Sony Ericsson. The company is currently on the second position, out pacing LG, and managed to do so even if some of its handsets, including Satio and Aino, were struck by software issues. “We will learn from the Satio experience and implement improvements across the business. […] The new software updates have been approved by them all and Phones 4U remains happy with sales,” Sony Ericsson senior marketing manager Richard Dorman said.