Muscat : The mobile phone handset market is witnessing a gradual shift in consumer preference in Oman and manufacturers are eager to capture the market share of the new segment in mobile telephony.

"A global trend is seen in recent times where the consumer is looking at a mobile handset that can help them multitask," Ajay Ganti, Chief Executive Officer of Al Seeb Technical (Sarco), told Gulf News, on the sidelines of Samsung unveiling their own new Wave.

Sarco are local dealers for Samsung in Oman and Ganti believes that it will only help the Korean brand capture a bigger market share.

The new Samsung mobile handsets come with a proprietary operating system Bada, which means Ocean in Korean. The application system, offered free to consumers, is aimed at narrowing the gap between feature-phones and smartphones.

He also believes that Samsung's initial offer of giving free applications for their smartphones will give them an edge over the others.

"We are looking at doubling Samsung's market share in Oman from 15 to 30 per cent with the new Samsung Wave and Samsung Galaxy S," he said.

Smart lifestyle

In Oman there's no system that can provide an exact number of mobile phone handsets sold but Ganti believes that annually around 850,000 handsets are sold.

"We are targeting to sell around 200,000 Samsung handsets in 2010 as the market grows steadily here," he said, adding the mobile handset market could see a value increase this year.

"The consumer is going for smartphones that are higher in value as the utility value of mobile handsets is growing," he said.

Sandeep Saihgal, general manager of mobile phones at Samsung Gulf Electronics, promises a way better experience with the new Samsung handsets.

"With our new products we are offering a smart lifestyle to suit any user," he said.

He said that Samsung's 17 per cent Middle East market share is expected to grow to 25 per cent in 2010 as demand for smartphones grows.

The Samsung Wave features the world's first Super Amoled display; delivering an unrivalled screen experience on a smartphone.

Talking about the new Bada application, Saihgal said that it alludes to Samsung's commitment to a variety of open platforms in the mobile industry.

Saihgal said that they will have to tie-up with the local service providers for a tie-up with the new Samsung smartphones, which are Arabic enabled.