- Image of Lenovo LePhone Smartphone - Chen Nanyang
Just one day before Lenovo will launch their stylish LePhone, a wholesaler unveils that the price of the smart phone will be set at 2,650 RMB yuan ($389), a local web site said on Monday (May 10, 2010).
"The online order price of LePhone will be set at 2,899 yuan ($425), and the group shopping price will be set at 2,650 yuan ($389). The packages include double batteries and two chargers,” said a Sichuan-based cell phone wholesaler, as quoted by the Beijing-based Sohu.com on May 10.
LePhone Rival Apple iPhone with Low Price Strategy in Mobile Smartphone Market
If the price is true, Lenovo LePhone will kick off its game with Apple iPhone through a low price strategy. LePhone’s price will only equal half of the iPhone’s, even when Apple just cut the prices of iPhone handsets in the Chinese market.
China Unicom, the nation's third-biggest mobile phone operator and Apple iPhone’s partner in the market, announced on April 30 that it would cut the price of iPhone 3G (8GB), the cheapest version in the iPhone line, from 5,999 RMB yuan ($880) to 4,999 yuan ($730). They also cut the price of iPhone 3GS 16GB from 6,999 yuan ($1,026) to 5,888 yuan ($863), and iPhone 3GS 32GB from 7,999 yuan ($1,173) to 6,999 yuan ($1,026). The prices of iPhone models are obviously much higher than the LePhone’s.
According to an earlier LePhone report, Lenovo President Liu Chuanzhi said that mobile Internet products would account for 10-20 percent of the computer giant’s total revenue in five years, and they would not expect to make money from mobile Internet products until two years later.
Lenovo plans to use their abundant cash reserves to expand their mobile phone business in the Chinese market as soon as possible. Under this circumstance, low-price strategy is one of their best choices. Currently Lenovo has 3 billion yuan ($450 million) of cashes, which can help the company support the expansion to the smartphone market.
Mobile Phone Operators help Lenovo LePhone Defeat Apple iPhone in 3G Smartphone Market
Support from local mobile phone operators is another means that Lenovo LePhone will use to defeat iPhone. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China’s number of 3G users will increase from 10 million to 30 million between 2009 and 2010.
China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom will, respectively take around one third of the market. But Apple iPhone only supports China Unicom’s WCDMA network, which means that iPhone will lose two third of the market if Apple can do its best in the WCDMA market. By comparison, Lenovo LePhone supports China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA, China Unicom’s WCDMA and China Telecom’s CDMA2000 networks, and will no doubt have better chances to gain more shares in the 3G smartphone market.
Chen Nanyang - Chen Nanyang's journalist career began in 2002 when he started writing for China's Nanfang City News, Singapore's United Morning Post and ...
