LATAM Telecom

IDC predicts worldwide mobile phone shipments will fall 8.3% in 2009 ( Cellular News ). Q4 08 shipments fell 11.6%, marking the first time the holiday quarter has not recorded double digit growth in seven years. IDC also scaled back the outlook for smartphones as a result of the industry's changing dynamics, reducing from previously stated 8.7% to 3.4% growth. It is expected, however, that in the coming years the industry will migrate toward the converged device segment and this segment will maintain positive growth in 2009. The explosive success of Apple's iPhone and the App Store have significantly affected demand for smartphones and are defining new industry trends, with other companies including Nokia, Verizon, RIM, Microsoft launching their own mobile application stores this year. A March ChangeWave survey of 4,292 cell phone owners confirmed a shift to smartphones, with Apple and RIM in a close race for market leadership while their competitors continue to suffer the eff...

"This is the exact time to invest - if you can - because not only is there opportunity, but there are lots of resources out there." - Mike Lazaridis Picture: Research In Motion co-CEOs Jim Balsillie (left) and Mike Lazaridis THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan We are one quarter into 2009, a year that is turning out to be one of the most challenging to navigate in recent history. As this first quarter comes to an end I want to share my thoughts on what to expect for the rest of the year. Like other sectors of the economy, the Telecom industry faces huge economic challenges as the United States and other nations slip into a global recession: The Telecom Industry will face a slowdown in 2009; IDATE reports that the telecom equipment market will suffer a downturn with an expected growth rate of 1% compared to the year before. This will affect infrastructure and mobile phones; IDC predicts worldwide mobile phone shipments to fall 8.3% in 2009 . Companies will face the downturn by limitin...

Pinky: Gee, Brain, what are we going to do tonight? Brain: The same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to take over the world! Last week Google announced that GrandCentral, acquired by Google in 2007, is now Google Voice, with new features including voicemail to text and archive and search of SMS text messages. Analysts and bloggers are divided on how this will impact voice revenues from local and international calls, but the ability to offer free Internet calls will surely be seen as a threat. When Nokia announced last month that Skype came preloaded on the N97, it incurred the displeasure of mobile operators. According to Mobiletoday.co.uk , UK operators Orange and O2 may end up refusing to stock the N97 unless Nokia eliminated the application. The incursion of Skype and Google into telecommunications adds to the mounting pressure mobile operators are facing from new players. Last year, when Apple announced it was opening up its platform to developers, they redefined the power bal...

"Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some." - Robert Fulghum The market for mobile applications has changed significantly in the last four years, when I first started working with these applications. Four years does not sound like a long time but in this industry it means I have lived through several generations of devices and have seen some applications take off and many others fail. This year, analysts expect mobile applications to really take off; it is very exciting to see the industry reach this point, so I thought I'd share my experience and what I've learned in the process. Back then, Comverse was working on developing client applications that used new device capabilities to enhance network based services. These services included Call Completion, Mobile Instant Messaging, Address Book Backup, Mobile Email and Visual Voice Mail; each of them had different technical and commercial issu...

Despite the economic downturn, it is expected that the latest mobile applications for smartphones like BlackBerry and iPhone will drive industry growth in the coming years, providing alternate sources of revenue for operators. A new report by Juniper Research forecasts that smartphones will account for 23% of all new handsets sold by 2013 ( Cellular News ). Another report by Informa forecasts 35 percent growth in sold smartphones in 2009 and according to The Washington Post , Gartner expects smartphone sales to jump in 2009. The common element in these reports is the potential that innovative devices and applications have to promote mobile data consumption. This has industry players scrambling to secure their place in the value chain, including content providers, handset vendors and application developers. Handset vendors need to diversify into high-value content to offset falling margins on handset sales (1). This week, Nokia announced the arrival of new Nokia Music Stores, more Comes...

Rob Pegoraro, blogger and author of Fast Forward, the Washington's Post Personal Technology column, wrote yesterday about the new BlackBerry models (see BlackBerrys Again Get Sleeker but Can't Challenge iPhone ). I like Pegoraro's analysis on the new devices, it is very detailed and comprehensive, however his comparison to the iPhone, misses the point entirely. I have written extensively about how the iPhone is breaking new ground and challenging traditional handset vendors and operators to rethink their strategy. A quick look at how big players have responded since the iPhone was shown to the world at MacWorld 2007 is proof enough: Nokia recently unveiled its flagship phone for 2009, the N97, a few days ago and of course, RIM's new devices include touch screen devices that do mimic the iPhone user interface. Experience however, has shown that the BlackBerry VS iPhone challenge exists mostly in the minds of analysts, not in the marketplace. BlackBerry has positioned it...

A quick look at how the handset industry has changed after the iPhone was first introduced at Macworld 2007, confirms that visual interfaces are becoming a de facto standard for mobile devices: Just a few months after the iPhone launch by AT&T, Verizon launched the Voyager, made by LG. In early 2008, Sprint announced at CTIA the launch of the Samsung Instinct. More recently, just a few weeks ago, Research in Motion introduced the first touch screen Blackberry. Finally, Nokia, introduced its flagship phone for 2009, the N97, a few days ago. These are just a few of the many example of new touch screen devices by major handset manufacturers. At first instance it might seem like iPhone clones are flooding the market, but I strongly believe they are more than that; they are part of a growing trend that focuses on user experience. While it can be argued that Apple's iPhone did not actually create these innovations, some of which had been around for several years before its release, ...

Yesterday Telefonica confirmed it finally reached an agreement with Apple to distribute the iPhone in 16 countries, including its operations in all of Latin America except for Mexico. This confirms the rumors that America Movil did not have exclusive rights, and now the iPhone will be available in several countries by two operators. Italy was the first country to have this type of agreement. Telefonica already sells the phone in the UK and Ireland through its O2 unit, where it has exclusive distribution rights. Now, it will add the Czech Republic, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Out of these countries, only Venezuela was not included in the America Movil agreement since it has no presence in that country. In Venezuela, Telefonica is the largest operator. Note by Reuters and other sources.

News sources in Brazil today confirm that Mexican Telephony group America Movil officially announced that they were selected to distribute the iPhone in Latin America, including Brazil. The news does not provide a launch date but confirms that the iPhone will be available in Latin America in 2008 ( iPhone should arrive to Brazil in 2008 , May 7 2008).

It has been almost a year since the launch of the iPhone in the USA and only a few months since its introduction to the European maret. In this short period of time we have seen AT&T and Apple play with the pricing of the handset. Pricing for the service itself has not changed except for an additional package not offered in the beginning. In contrast, the European market sales of the device have not lived to expectations which shouldn't be surprising considering the price of the handset. The US and European markets offer interesting lessons for pricing the iPhone in Latin America: Both Apple and AT&T claim that the iPhone is selling in the U.S. up to expectations but overseas is a different matter . Everything seems to indicate the price is too high for the European market. Latin America is a low ARPU region but end users do not hesitate to buy high end devices. However, pricing the handset higher than a laptop is probably a big mistake. The number of users who are willing...

This week we reported on the strong rumors surruounding the launch of a 3G version of the iPhone. Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg was quoted by several sources stating that an iPhone capable of connecting to faster, "3G" mobile networks is coming "in 60 days." Just yesterday, I found a retraction from Mr. Mossberg in the Thursday edition of FierceWireless newsletter. The whole incident is hysterically funny with bloggers like Peter Kafka from the Silicon Alley Insider using the following headline: Mossberg: I Have No Idea When 3G iPhone Is Coming, And I Don't Care. However, Mossberg's crappy attitude and immediate disclaimer say more about the whole situation than his actual statements. Reading between the lines and knowing how Apple reacts when they believe their trade secrets are leaked, it coudn't surpise me that Mr. Mossberg had received a cease and desist or something to that effect from Apple's lawyers. We still believe the 3...

From Yahoo! News ( link ) we hear that Apple is expected to launch a high-speed wireless version of iPhone in the second quarter and produce as many as 8 million of the devices in the third quarter, according to Bank of America. "Our latest channel checks point to a significant production build of a 3G iPhone beginning in the month of June after an initial small build in May," said Bank of America analyst Scott Craig. As usual, no word from Apple.

From adnmundo.com (link here ) and tusbuscadores.com (link here ) we learn that apparently Telefonica is moving to close negotiations for a regional agreement to launch the iPhone in Latin America. We had mentioned here previously that America Movil and Telefonica were both after the distribution and Apple was negotiating on a per country per operator basis. Apparently this may have changed if the rumors that Apple will join forces with Telefonica are true. We had also mentioned that negotiations with America Movil were not going to be easy and that Apple's conditions, which include revenue share on data revenues, were very likely going to be unacceptable to America Movil. America Movil's leadership in Latin America is precisely what makes negotiations with them extremely difficult and for sure Telefonica will jump at the chance of winning this deal. Even though they have a similar number of subscribers in the region (both topped 100M in the last couple of years), America Mov...

We had heard that both America Movil and Telefonica were in talks with Apple to launch the iPhone in Latin America (see here ), with operations in Brazil and Mexico as the prime candidates. It was expected that negotiations were not going to be easy, both companies and particularly America Movil are well known to be tough negotiators. Apple, however, has given no indication that it will change its business strategy, which consists of no exclusive agreements with global operators, which means it can launch with America Movil in Mexico and with Telefonica in Brazil). Apple's strategy is to have separate negotiations country/operator and exclusivity for one single operator per country. In addition, Apple is not backing down from the revenue share deal it has with its current partners, despite tough negotiations in Japan, China and other countries (see here ). It is now reported by Folha Online that Telefonica and Apple are in the final stages of negotiation to launch the iPhone in Bra...

Last week Apple released the much expected SDK for the iPhone, allowing thrid party applications to run on the handset. This move (from John O'Brien's Technology Blog MacChat ) will reposition the iPhone in the corporate segment, which up until now has been dominated by RIM's BlackBerry. The iPhone is already the second most popular smartphone after the BlackBerry but up until now it was not a serious contender in the corporate segment. It should be interesting to see how things evolve in Latin America, where just a couple of years ago the BlackBerry was introduced with much hype. Despite being a small niche (in some countries in LA, subscribers are only in the thousands), it has proven to be one of the highest revenue generating handsets for operators worldwide. In Latin America, however, the segment for smartphones is much smaller than in North America or Europe, and targeting this segment with special handsets can be tricky. Such is the case of the BlackBerry. This means...

While everyone else impatiently waits for Apple to make up their mind about the iPhone, as reported here before (see here and here ), CTI quietly launched their CORREO MULTIMEDIA CTI (CTI Multimedia Mail), which is a great option for deploying Visual Voice Mail to mass market. Even though the service currently is only available to the postpaid segment, this service is part of the Visual Voice Mail offering that seems to be the buzzword not only in Latin America but worldwide thanks to Apple's iPhone. We expect to hear more from operators regarding this service, as we have mentioned here before , the time for an upgraded version of VOICEMAIL is long due and it took an outsider to reinvent the service.

From Cellular News today: "At the Macworld conference, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that the company had sold 4 million units of its iPhone handset since it was launched exactly 200 days ago. He noted that was 20,000 phones sold per day, on average." Jobs claims that the market share for the iPhone in the USA has reached 19.5%, placing them second behind RIM within the smartphone market. Jobs announced several upgrades related to SMS functionality, an update on the SDK but no news regarding MMS. Jobs also failed to announce any new operator agreements and any update on the much expected 3G phone. Many analysts and industry experts expected Apple to introduce the 3G phone at this event.

According to Cellular News , Apple also has reached exclusive deals with T-Mobile in Germany and France Telecom , and is expected to reach exclusive deals with operators in Russia and China. The article points out how Apple's strategy may limit their potential in the long term, since cellphone industry giants are fighting back with cellphones of their own to counter the iPhone. Apple's strategy is to work through exclusive deals such as AT&T in the USA. What about Latin America? We have heard rumors since the hype of the iPhone launch started earlier this year, that both America Movil and Telefonica were in talks with Apple. So far it seems that Apple is only willing to do a negotiation per country, which leaves the door open to different scenarios. According to Telecompaper , Claro is in talks for iPhone contract. Telcel Mexico officially addressed the issue in June this year through their spokesperson, Patricia Ramirez ( source ) where she stated the operator's inter...