SA's mobile industry is in for a rewarding festive season, thanks to the host of new smartphones making waves and a mass migration away from feature phones in SA.
This is according to industry observers, who note that new products - including Windows 8 devices and Apple's sixth-generation iPhone - are likely to drive massive sales for the last quarter of the year.
Tim Walter, executive head of strategy and business transformation at Nashua Mobile, says "record handset sales" are expected for the local telecommunications industry this festive season, as feature phone users start making the switch and more tech-savvy users keep upgrading to the latest technologies.
Richard Hurst, senior analyst at Ovum, says the local smartphone market is starting to heat up - with affordability remaining a key issue. "Very soon we will see low-cost Android devices entering the market offering consumers more choice, but the interesting market to watch will be the mid-level device market, where vendors and service providers will be looking at the overall [end-user] experience."
As for the coming festive season, it is usually characterised by high device sales and increased network traffic. "This year, given the current economic climate, we can certainly expect to see elevated sales."
World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck says this year SA can expect to see increased sales due to the "dazzling array of high-end phones" on offer. "It is difficult for consumers to make a choice, given that they all have something strong to offer."
He says, roughly-speaking, devices in the R2 000 range are classified as low-end, those between R5 000 to R6 000 as mid-range, and those in the R7 000 to R8 000 and above bracket, as high-end devices.
Saleable smartphones
Walter says the South African smartphone market, long dominated by BlackBerry, is rapidly changing with Android, iOS and Windows devices making inroads into its market share. The allure of the flat-rate for BlackBerry Internet Service for R60 a month and attractively priced full-featured models may no longer be enough to keep the Canadian-based smartphone at the top of the chart in SA, he says.
Walter says Nashua Mobile has seen good sales for Apple's iPhone 4S over the past year, despite the cost of the device. He says consumers who have eagerly been waiting for the iPhone 5 will probably also snap up the new device too - at any cost.
"Despite the fact that the iPhone 5 has drawn some criticism for a lack of jaw-dropping new features, it is still likely to be the most aspirational device on the market."
Goldstuck also cites Apple's new smartphone as the high-end phone that will get the most sales in SA, together with what he terms the "darling of the market": the Samsung S3. The HTC One X, he says, is also a contender for top spot, "but their marketing is very poor. They just don't have the positioning in the South African market, even though it is an equivalent phone to the other top high-end ones."
Walter says the release of Jelly Bean - the next release of the Android operating system - will help Android grow even stronger in SA, if it delivers on its promise of a smoother and more beautiful Android interface.
"With the announcement of the Nokia Lumia 920, Nokia and Microsoft have rounded off the Windows product portfolio with a device that can compete with the Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 5 at the top-end. "We don't know yet when the Lumia 820 and 920 will be available in SA, but Nashua Mobile is seeing demand pick up for earlier Lumia models."
Goldstuck says in the low-end there are two main phones in the running - the BlackBerry Curve 9320 ("the teenager's phone of choice") and the Samsung Galaxy Pocket, popular across the board. He says the difference is the low-end Samsung is half the price of the Curve and likely to save the company's sliding market share in SA.
Looking further ahead, Walter says the launch of the new BlackBerry 10 platform in the first quarter of 2013 will be important for SA's smartphone market, since it will determine whether BlackBerry can keep pace with its competitors.
"But whatever happens then, one thing local smartphone fans can be sure of is that there will be no shortage of devices to choose from as the smartphone market continues to grow and evolve."
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