US mobile phone maker Motorola wants to become the top player on the local market in 2005 and hopes to be behind half the sales of third generation phones finding their way into Romanian pockets this year.
"There are opportunities for sales growth in Romania. This is an important market for us and we can now invest more for our brand," Greg Estell, Motorola vice-president and chief executive of their mobile telephone division for Europe, told Ziarul Financiar. He said Motorola had revamped its business in Europe, having already conquered the Russian market, and could therefore focus on the fast-growing markets in Central and Eastern Europe.
Motorola, which three years ago was around fifth or sixth on the market in Western Europe, has recently begun to focus on boosting sales on developed markets and has gained a foothold in Russia, which is a very large market. "We came with mobile phones to challenge what the major operators - Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange - were offering, and in three years we managed to elevate Motorola to around second or third place on Western European markets," Estell explained. He added that entering the Russian market was done using the experience they acquired in China, a market with similar opportunities. "We found a few leading operators and cheap phones, but penetration was low. We applied the success formula from China and we are now market leaders in Russia."
Motorola has also successfully doubled its performance in terms of the number of units sold in Europe last year, with revenues three times higher than in 2003. "This makes it possible for us to take on the markets of Eastern Europe, and we see Romania as very important for us," explained Estell.
According to company representatives, the good results mean that the promotion budget for 2005 has doubled.
Motorola is confident that 3G will be a success in Romania and for this reason officials from the company chose to present the latest phones that will become available on the local market. dan.dragomir@zf.ro
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