­According to statistics of the ITIS project -a project initiated by Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs and conducted by Taipei-based MIC-shipment volume of the Taiwanese smart cellular device industry in the third quarter of 2008 is estimated at 11.02 million units, up 125.1% year-on-year and up 54% sequentially.

Although the industry experienced large-scale growth in the third quarter, shipment mainly relied on the Apple 3G iPhone and the HTC Diamond.

Due to the large-scale shipments of the 3G iPhone and the HTC Diamond, the industry's shipment share of HSPA products increased 53.9 percentage points to 78.4% in the third quarter. The shipment share of EDGE (Enhance Data rates for GSM Evolution) models fell 47.1 percentage points to 12.1%. As a result of these developments, the industry's ASP (Average Selling Price) increased from US$298 in the second quarter to US$308 in the third quarter of 2008.

Overall shipment value of the industry in the third quarter of 2008 is estimated at US$3.40 billion, up 59.4% sequentially and 132.6% year-on-year.

The 3.5G was the main system technology of shipments in the third quarter, which led to an increase in ASP. However, this was due to a transition period between 2G and 3G products. In the future, the declining trend of ASP will continue, as the prices of software and hardware components are falling. In the OS field, for example, the entry of the free Android platform has already made an impact on existing OS suppliers, causing them to lower OS licensing fees in order to compete in the market.

Shipment volumes of second-tier makers in the industry saw significant declines, which was due to factors such as the weak global economy, unsteady own-brand development and declining shipment of clients. The degree of concentration in the industry became more evident. Regarding the reasons for some manufacturers' inability to take off, besides the unfavorable external environment, the main reason is the excessive similarity of products and uniformity of business models. This has caused a lack of unique features, and has made some makers unable to enjoy advantages in the growing market.

Source:cellular-news