Analysts from Merrill Lynch had a visit to India and came back with some interesting observations about the local market. Focusing on the handset side of the industry, India is almost unique in that most handsets are sold by retailers which are not affiliated with the network operators. The network operator sells the GSM SIM card and connection, and then the customer purchases an unsubsidized handset from a 3rd party retailer.

Amazingly, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has managed to corner a staggering 75-80% of the market thanks to an early decision to rapidly roll-out retail distribution deals as the networks themselves expanded their coverage.

Of the estimated 79,000 retail outlets in India selling mobile phones, Nokia has a presence in 72,000 of them.

Nokia also benefits from a perception of providing sturdy phones that have a good resale price on the second-hand market. As such, Nokia continues to see strong demand for its low-end candy bar phones, which are known for their quality and durability.

Source: cellular-news

What can I say? Way to go! Nokia, as well as all the other mobile phone manufacturers need to start educating the consumers about SIM cards, how they work, and what phones are available for purchase. I’ve seen far too many people switch from/to T-Mobile (NYSE: DT), Cingular, and the former AT&T (NYSE: T) just because that carrier offers a phone they like. India has it right!

Not to mention they like the old school candy bar Nokias. I still own one of those battle ready tanks. Ah memories of 1 week battery life time.

Some dealers at Tehran’s Ala’eddin Mobile Set Mall say that for a while
various models of Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) were the best sellers in the market and
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) sets were not as fast going as they used to be here.

Yet it has been a few days that the customers looking for that brand,
too, face scarcity of their desired set types, or are even totally
unable of finding them in the market.

The manager of Citadel-Telecom, Sony Ericsson’s sole sales agent in
Iran, Mahdi Nader had earlier announced the entry of that company’s new
models to the market, assuring the dealers that the problems with which
they had been entangled to procure the Sony-Ericsson sets would be
limited to very few models.

Source: Taliya News

So why is this happening? This is yet another article I find today that puts Sony ahead of Nokia. First the J.D Power customer satisfaction survey, and now this. Will someone please identify the problem? I might make a trip down to my local provider huts (Verizon (NYSE: VZ), T-Mobile (NYSE: DT), Cingular) to check out what these mobiles really have to offer.

Sony-Ericsson’s do use standard 3.5mm headphone jacks … learn from them Nokia

A J.D. Power Survey about cell phone user satisfaction published last week reveals a few good surprises:

Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the world’s largest cell phone vendor, is only 6th, behind Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE), LG, Sanyo (OTCPK: SANYY), Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Samsung.

All the major manufacturers rank relatively equal: The
difference between the winner, Sony Ericsson, and the loser, UTStarcom (NSDQ: UTSI),
is only 38 points out of 1000, or less than 4 percent.

Source: About.com

You know what this means right? Time to buy all the phones from Sony and find out what makes them better than a Nokia. I’m curious myself since I’ve never used a Sony handset post Sony-Ericsson merger.

Sources in the Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority (PTA) told Online that there are 12 to 15 thousands mobile
phone shops across the country and generated huge employment
opportunities. They said that about 60,000 people directly and
indirectly are employing in this sector.

They said that according to estimates
provided by local resellers of the mobile phone handsets, the number of
handsets imported currently at around 750,000 and 800,000 per month.

… They said that four major players dominate
Mobile Phone Handsets market, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) leading with 55 percent, Sony
Ericsson 22 percent, Samsung 17 percent and Motorola (NYSE: MOT) 5 percent.

They said that due to the increasing trend
of import of handsets through proper channel, the reduction is observed
in availability of smuggled sets.

Source: Pak Tribune

Reduction in smuggled cell phones are always a good thing! Props to Nokia for being the top dog in Pakistan.

British mobile phone operator 3 UK will offer free long distance phone
calls and unlimited access to broadband internet service for a fixed
fee. The operator, a unit of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa, said
the new service will start in December and will cover operations such
as unlimited web calling, instant messaging, search and other
applications on mobile handsets for a flat monthly fee.

… It will be available on two handsets — the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N93 and the Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) W950– initially.

Source: Wireless Federation

The era of charging for service based on minutes is over. Expect a long opinion piece on this in the next few days.