A number of Chinese handset makers, including Amoi and Bird, are planning to boost sales with promotional campaigns designed for this summer at a time when domestic brands are losing more and more market share to foreign competitors.

"Summer, especially July and August, is traditionally a slack season for handset sales. However, there are a large number of students that have just finished their university entrance examinations and are now preparing to go to college in September," said Wang Zhiquan, spokesperson for Xiamen-based handset maker Amoi. " They are the potential handset buyers we will target.”

Students are common targets for summer promotional campaigns being planned by Chinese handset makers, which for the most part include free gifts, price cuts, and the launch of new low-cost models designed for the youth market. In general, students are more interested in multimedia functions but do not have a great deal of money to spend on handsets.

As part of its summer campaign, Amoi would cut the price of three of its mobile phone models featuring multimedia functions to around 1,200 yuan (US$145), Wang said. One handset, the M350, features MP3 player functions and has 128 megabytes of installed memory. The two other handsets, the D80 and D85, have digital cameras.

Meanwhile, Ningbo Bird, the largest domestic mobile phone maker, is also targeting students with its summer promotions, having launched more than 20 new models recently. Bird would also institute price cuts to attract potential student buyers, Bird spokesperson Ying said.

"Competition on price depends on market situations. If there are many competing models, price cuts will be more drastic. In this case, companies that are bigger and stronger in cost controls will have advantages," Ying said.

In addition to Amoi and Bird, Chinese handset makers Dopod and Konka have also said they planned to launch summer promotional campaigns.

However, there are doubts as to whether price cuts and promotions will aid domestic brands in competition against foreign brands such as Motorola and Nokia, which have been taking market share away from Chinese firms in all segments.

(Shenzhen Daily July 20, 2005)