ASIA SALES OF COLOR CAMERA PHONES DOMINATE MARKET.

GfK Asia, Singapore, has released its 2007 Mid-Year Pan Asian Mobile Phone and Digital Imaging summary which shows retail sales of color camera phones continued to dominate the mobile phone market across the 12 countries assessed across the region* in the first half of 2007. Of the three categories assessed in the Asian region --color with camera, color displays without camera, and monochrome -- color camera phones reported an overall increase of approximately 44% in volume, with over 78 million units sold, and 28% increase in value, totaling almost US$18 billion in sales from January to June 2007 when compared to the same time period in 2006.

Total Asian market phone sales for the region were up by approximately 39% in volume during the first six months of 2007 against the same time period in 2006, with just over 149 million units sold so far this year. Gains in value were much stronger than for the equivalent period last year, with a value increase of approximately 21% in value, compared with just 4% increase in the first half of 2006 against the same period in 2005. The overall mobile phone market totaled almost US$22.5 billion in sales in the first half of 2007. Stanley Kee, GfK's Commercial Director for Mobile Phones and Digital Imaging said "In the first half of 2006, per unit values plummeted, driven by competitive pressures and high growth in cheaper monochrome handsets in particular country markets. While per unit values are still declining in the first half of 2007, the decline is slower than during the same period last year, because color handsets with cameras are gaining market share. The steadying of unit values has allowed the value of the total market to expand as the sales volumes continue to grow."

Kee added "Slider form handsets are increasing in popularity, and an increasing proportion of handsets offer the full 16M color range, enhancing the customer experience when using newer services such as streaming video from the internet."

While China continues to hold the lion's share in Asia in terms of overall mobile phone sales volume and value, with 77 million units sold in the first six months of 2007 and over US$11.5 billion in retail mobile phone sales during the same timeframe, India also holds a significant share at 35 million units sold and over US$3 billion in sales value in the first six months of 2007. China and India are growing at similar rates, with volumes up 46% and 44% respectively, and total sales value increases of 28% and 32% respectively against the same period in 2006. Volume increases have slowed overall, with not a single Asian country surveyed reporting more than a 50% increase in volume of sales in the first half of 2007 against the same time last year. All of the 12 countries surveyed reported an increase in both retail sales volume and value within the color camera phone category for the first half of 2007 against the same time in 2006, with the exception of Thailand and Korea, where volume gains were offset by declining average unit prices, resulting in negligible growth in sales value.

In Korea, relatively flat sales values are a result of a mature market, with large declines in sales of monochrome units (-79%) and color handsets with no camera (-71%), and falling unit values in color camera handsets. In contrast, Thailand's growth in volume and sales value is occurring in the monochrome market (61% volume and 31% value increases), and the color camera segment has only grown 3% in volume over the same period in 2006.

The declining trend in sales of monochrome phones in the region turned around during the first half of 2007, driven by large volume increases in the largest market, China. Monochrome handset volumes in China increased by 74% against the same period in 2006, to over 10.3 million units. China's monochrome phone volume increase accounted for 4.4 million units of the total regional monochrome volume increase of 5.9 million units. Stanley Kee explained "China is tapping into its vast pool of new mobile users in the more rural areas. These users are embracing the subsidized packages now available in the market. This is makes for great growth market for the lower priced monochrome handsets as these consumers enter the market."

The region's digital imaging market continued to grow steadily, with volume increasing 20% to 7.8 million units and sales value increasing 15% to over US$2.6 billion against the same period in 2006. The increase was driven by steady growth in the majority compact segment (18% volume growth and 7% value growth) and very strong growth in the smaller digital SLR segment (77% volume growth and 68% value growth). China dominates the regional market, with 50% of the units sold in Pan Asia and 49% of the US$ value of the total Pan Asian market.

For the first six months in 2007, as in the same time period for 2007, the majority of digital camera sales in Asia were in the compact category, but with DSLR volumes and sales values in China more than doubling over the same period in 2006, the DSLR segment is gaining market share.

About GfK Asia Pte Ltd

GfK Asia Pte Ltd (GfK Asia), part of the global GfK Group, is a leading research company with over 15 years experience in providing reliable Asian retail and technology market data. Our analysts track a broad range of consumer technology markets, including: consumer electronics, telecommunications, IT, household electrical appliances (large and small) as well as digital imaging. GfK Asia covers 55 product groups and over 300,000 models, collecting monthly data from over 6,000 specialist / independent shops as well as over 170 organised retailers with approximately 15,000 outlets. This disciplined methodology, together with tight field operational control in every country, allows GfK Asia to produce high quality reports containing reliable information that our clients can use with confidence.

Based in Singapore, with other offices in India and Japan, GfK Asia offers extensive coverage of the following countries: China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Australia.

For further information, visit http://www.gfkms.com.

About The GfK Group

The GfK Group is the No. 4 market research organization worldwide. Its activities cover five business divisions, Consumer Tracking, HealthCare, Retail and Technology, Media and Custom Research. In addition to 15 German subsidiaries, the company has over 120 subsidiaries and affiliates located in 57 countries. Of a current total of around 8,000 employees, approx. 1,500 are based in Germany.

For more information, visit http://www.gfk.com.