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Wireless Phone Ads Hit Record Level; Nokia Share Jumps Dramatically

By Joseph Palenchar On Dec 18 2000 - 8:00am

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -The frequency of wireless phone ads, not just the number of net-new subscribers, hit record levels during the first three quarters of 2000.

The number of phones advertised in newspapers and catalogs grew to 69,252, almost 18 percent over the year-ago period, according to a survey by Beyen International Market Research.

During that time, Nokia remained the most frequently advertised phone brand, enjoying a 41 percent increase in the number of advertised phones to 25,854. Nokia's share of advertised phones also went up, hitting 37.3 percent, compared with the year-ago period's 31 percent.

Motorola, the second most frequently advertised brand during both of those periods, lost ground during the first three quarters of 2000. The number of advertised Motorola phones fell 1.2 percent to 16,181, and the company's share of advertised phones shrank to 23.4 percent from 27.8 percent, Beyen found.

In fact, Nokia phones were advertised almost 60 percent more often than Motorola phones during this period.

In its survey of ads in more than 90 newspapers and catalogs, Beyen also found that Ericsson fell to sixth place from third in advertised-phone share, falling behind Qualcomm (third), Samsung (fourth) and Audiovox (fifth).

In addition, among the most-advertised brands, Samsung and Audiovox posted the biggest percentage gains in the number of phones advertised.

Here are some additional details of Beyen's findings, prepared exclusively for TWICE:

Advertising frequency: Nokia phones were the most frequently advertised phones in all of 1999 and in the first three quarters of 2000, when Nokia increased its lead. During both time periods, Motorola phones were the next-most advertised phones, but the number and share of advertised Motorola phones fell.

Ericsson's rank slipped to sixth from last year's third, while Qualcomm, Samsung and Audiovox each moved up a notch to third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

During the Q1-Q3 period, total ad frequency for all 20 tracked brands increased 17.6 percent to 69,252. The gain, though substantial, nonetheless pales in comparison to the 60 percent increase in advertised phones in all of 1999 to 81,419.

Ericsson posted the steepest decline of all tracked brands, with its phones advertised 53 percent less often than during the year-ago period (9,354 vs. 4,422). The frequency of advertised Qualcomm phones slipped 5.2 percent to 6,897 from 7,206, reflecting the brand's transition to new owner Kyocera.

Among the six most frequently advertised brands, Samsung and Audiovox posted the most significant gains in frequency. The frequency of advertised Samsung phones increased 78 percent to 5,249, barely edging out Audiovox, whose frequency rose 130 percent to 4,951.

Q1-Q3 advertised-phone share breaks down like this: Nokia, 37.3 percent, up from 31 percent; Motorola, 23.4 percent, down from 27.8 percent; Qualcomm, 9.8 percent, down from 12.2 percent; Samsung, 7.6 percent, up from 5 percent; Audiovox, 7.1 percent, up from 3.7 percent; and Ericsson, 6.4 percent, down from 15.9 percent.

Advertised prices: Average advertised prices of all digital phones, regardless of underlying technology, were lower in each of 2000's first three quarters compared with the year-ago quarters-with the exception of TDMA phones advertised in the first quarter of 2001.

Even so, prices on average were relatively stable, with an average third-quarter 2000 price of $62.90 compared with the year-ago period's $68.98.

Comparing third-quarter 2000 and third-quarter 1999 prices, Beyen found that advertised GSM prices fell the most in percentage terms (47 percent to $34 from $64.09).

Next in order of percentage decline in prices during the time period was single-mode 1.9GHz CDMA phones (down 24 percent to $69.08), followed by TDMA phones (down 19 percent to $50.25) and iDEN phones (down 7.4 percent to $77.32).

Technologies advertised: By a healthy margin, CDMA phones were advertised more often than other-technology phones in the first three quarters of 2000. CDMA models were advertised more than 27,000 times, followed by TDMA phones, which were advertised more than 21,000 times.

Among TDMA phones, Nokia models were advertised more than any other brand's models during the first three quarters of 2000. Nokia TDMA models were advertised 15,519 times, followed by Ericsson's 3,580 and Motorola's 2,160.

Among CDMA models, Qualcomm models were advertised more than any other single brand (10,207), followed by Samsung (5,249).

Number Of Phones Advertised By Brand

	1999	1999	1999	1999	1999	2000	2000	2000	2000	Total
	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total	Q1	Q2	Q3	Total
Nokia	5,737	6,872	5,748	8,132	26,489	8,240	7,942	9,672	25,854	52,343
Motorola	5,557	5,616	5,209	4,360	20,742	5,138	5,361	5,682	16,181	36,923
Qualcomm	2,272	2,735	2,199	3,482	10,688	3,584	2,844	3,779	10,207	20,895
Ericsson	3,713	2,796	2,845	2,873	12,227	2,491	1,231	700	4,422	16,649
Samsung	582	1,035	1,325	1,206	4,148	933	2,361	1,955	5,249	9,397
Audiovox	522	659	971	1,161	3,313	1,275	1,682	1,994	4,951	8,264
Mitsubishi	98	158	115	391	762	283	403	152	838	1,600
LG Electronics	58	48	98	257	461	356	263	88	707	1,168
Sony	174	200	281	139	794	29	21	15	65	859
Bell Atlantic	0	71	166	140	377	278	13	0	291	668
Sanyo	113	14	57	174	358	117	52	40	209	567
Sprint	38	22	156	174	390	58	18	57	133	523
Philips	111	80	61	19	271	14	6	3	23	294
NEC	101	78	25	3	207	0	0	0	0	207
Hyundai	0	0	0	20	20	71	0	29	100	120
Siemens	76	29	0	0	105	0	0	0	0	105
RadioShack	39	4	0	0	43	0	0	0	0	43
Bosch	2	4	0	4	10	12	6	4	22	32
Uniden	5	2	0	0	7	0	0	0	0	7
Panasonic	4	3	0	0	7	0	0	0	0	7
Total	19,202	20,426	19,256	22,535	81,419	22,879	22,203	24,170	69,252	150,671

Source: Beyen International Market Research, Niagara Falls, N.Y. (903) 374-4596cTWICE 2000

Average Advertised Phone Prices

	1999	1999	1999	1999	2000	2000	2000
Technology	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1	Q2	Q3
Analog	$12.42	$6.33	$9.81	$9.81	$8.48	$22.57	$27.16
CDMA (1.9GHz single mode)	$104.72	$99.12	$91.34	$79.47	$94.45	$83.74	$69.08
CDMA (dual & trimode)	$142.36	$209.95	$199.86	$142.60	$141.99	$131.30	$107.50
GSM	$65.18	$74.27	$64.09	$54.13	$32.02	$31.63	$34.00
TDMA	$58.79	$61.97	$61.95	$70.03	$63.09	$54.80	$50.25
iDEN	$164.43	$87.33	$83.54	$67.12	$47.13	$50.44	$77.32
All Technologies	$69.76	$66.49	$68.98	$69.46	$65.82	$66.58	$62.90