Wireless-Phone Ads Surge In Q1-Q3; Nokia Tops, Ericsson & Samsung Gain

Niagara Falls, N.Y.—Wireless datarates are accelerating, and so is the rate of growth in wireless-phone advertising in newspapers and catalogs.

The number of phones advertised grew 27.5 percent in the first three quarters of this year to 108,796, compared to a 23 percent growth rate in the year-ago period, according to a survey by Beyen International Market Research (see table 2). In turn, 1999's Q1-Q3 advertising frequency was up 18 percent.

During the first three quarters of this year, Nokia remained the most frequently advertised phone brand, enjoying a 32.4 percent share of all advertised phones, up slightly from the previous year's 31.5 percent. Motorola kept its number two spot even though its percentage share slipped to 22.1 percent of advertised phones from the previous' year's 25.1 percent. Nonetheless, the number of Motorola phones advertised grew 12 percent to 24,000.

In its survey of ads in more than 90 newspapers and catalogs, Beyen also found that:

• Samsung's ad share shot up to third place from fifth with a 14.6 percent share.
• Ericsson's share rose almost 3 percent points to 13.2 percent but remained in fourth place.
• And Kyocera's share rose to a fifth-place 4.2 percent from last year's ninth place as the Qualcomm brand that it bought was phased out.

The survey also found that when as share is ranked by brand and technology:

• Samsung remained the most heavily advertised brand of CDMA phone, and Motorola gained ground to hit second place in CDMA from last year's fourth place.
• Nokia remained the most heavily advertised brand of GSM phone and TDMA phone.
• Panasonic TDMA phones, which weren't advertised at all in the first three quarters of 2000, took fourth place in 2001, contributing to eroding Motorola TDMA share.

Advertised prices remained relatively stable, and CDMA phones remained the most expensive, Beyen also found (see table 3). During full-year 2000, the average advertised price of a wireless phone was $97.72, and the average price during January-October 2001 was $96.45.

Here are some of the trend details uncovered by Beyen:

Advertising frequency: Among the top 10 brands in advertising share in the first through the third quarter of 2001, all brands posted gains in the number of their phones advertised except for Audiovox and Qualcomm, the latter brand having been discontinued. (See table 1.)

Kyocera, which entered the market last year, posted the biggest gain during the time period, with the number of advertised models rising 744 percent. Samsung and Ericsson also posted substantial gains, with the number of advertised models rising 94.7 percent to 15,882 and 61 percent to 14,410, respectively. Nokia posted a 30.8 percent gain to 107,796, and Motorola gained 12 percent to 24,000.

Technologies advertised: By a healthy margin, CDMA phones were advertised more frequently than any other technology in full-year 2000 and the January-October period in 2001, Beyen found (see table 1). The second-most-often advertised technology was TDMA, followed by GSM. Beyen also found life in the analog market in 2001.

Advertised prices: The average advertised price of analog and TDMA phones fell during each of the first three quarters of this year compared to their respective year-ago quarters, but prices were up for GSM phones and 1.9GHz CDMA phones in two of the three quarters. Prices of dual-band and trimode CDMA phones were down in two of the three quarters.