Solid Group expects mobile phone sales to reach 2-M units this year

MANILA, Philippines - Publicly-listed Solid Group Inc. (SGI) expects its mobile phone sales to reach two million units this year, accounting for a significant 40 percent share of the cellular phone market in the Philippines.

SGI president and CEO David Lim said last year, more than 50 percent of the company’s revenues came from the sale of the MyPhone brand of mobile phones. “Last year, P2 billion of the group’s revenues came from the mobile phone unit, with most of the sales coming during the last three months of the year,” he said.

During the last quarter of 2010, SGI sold 400,000 units of MyPhone, of which around half was disposed in December alone.

Lim said they sold a total of close to 800,000 phones last year. “What we sold in the last three months of last year was equivalent to the number of phones that we sold for the first eight months of 2010. We had to iron out some problems in terms of distribution. There was a learning curve when we came in and we solved that part last year,” he explained.

When MyPhone was introduced in the Philippine market during the last quarter of 2007, around 30,000 to 40,000 units were sold. This grew to more than 200,000 in 2008, another 200,000 in 2009, and then to 800,000 in 2010. “We expect to sell two million units this year,” Lim pointed out.

In the first quarter of 2011, MyPhone will be introducing a touchscreen, WiFi-enabled phones, a music phone, and a Qwerty WiFi phone models at prices aimed at the mass market. For the second half, new TV phone models will also be introduced.

Lim explained that while other international brands were pushing their smart phones and other high-end, expensive phones, MyPhone decided not to compete head-on but instead developed products to cater to the market segment that those brands have neglected – the mass market.

But he emphasized that their models are not the simple phones with basic functions. MyPhone introduced up-to-date technology like dual SIM, WiFi, Qwerty and touchscreen technologies to its phone line. It even introduced a expensive highly fashionable but highly affordable Swarovski phone. The most expensive MyPhone is priced at only P5,999 and the lowest at P1,199, the entry-level dual SIM phone.

Lim also revealed that MyPhone dealers are growing their distribution through independent or franchise kiosks. From 38 kiosks, they are targetting to increase this to 150 by the end of 2011.

MyPhone also has 33 after-sales service centers, with three more on the way, he added.

The company is also looking at introducing an Android technologically infused tablet, called the MyPad, to be sold at between P7,000 to P8,000 per unit.