HTC sees sustained demand in region

Dubai: Taiwanese firm HTC sees no major fall in regional mobile phone demand due to the global financial crisis, a top official said.

"Right now, demand has exceeded the forecast fuelled by smartphone devices and if the slowdown happens, it could be felt only in the first half of next year. But we are keeping a close vigil," said Kevin Chen, general manager, HTC Middle East, Africa and CIS.

Talking about the industry, he said the demand for Mobile TV will gain momentum in the region but not with the small screens. Nobody is going to watch Mobile TV for more than one hour on smaller screens. "That is why vendors are going for bigger screens like the one we launched at Gitex, Touch HD, which has a 3.8-inch display," he said.

About 3G services, he said it was initially marketed as a video conferencing tool but has gained more popularity in other applications such as music downloads, multiplayer gaming, online chat, positioning services and live business updates. Today's 3G networks are capable of supporting real-time data services, thus easily facilitating broadband services such as web video streaming, fax transmission and reception and e-mail downloading, even with attachments.

Penetration

"The current penetration of 3G is minimal. Users continue to be attracted to its impressive wide-area wireless voice telephony, video call and broadband wireless data capabilities, provided at commercial data transmission speeds of up to 7.2 mbps [megabytes per second]," he said.

"The G1, the first cellphone equipped with Google's mobile Android software, is expected to hit UAE shelves next year," he said.

According to RNCOS research report, the total number of 3G subscribers in the Middle East is expected to surpass four million by 2010 end, growing at an annual growth rate of around 60 per cent. He said features to watch for next year will be WiMax and 4G services.