By Shailendra Bhatnagar and Jennifer Tan
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Your new handset is certainly better and may be cheaper than your previous phone, but the choice of brands will reduce drastically in the coming years as smaller players exit the cut-throat market.
High research and development costs and a trend toward low-margin but high-volume phones are likely to force further consolidation among mobile handset makers.
The global top five -- Nokia, Motorola, Samsung Electronics (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), LG Electronics (066570.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sony Ericsson (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) -- already make roughly 75 percent of all mobile phones.
Around 45 vendors are left fighting for the remaining 25 percent share, which analysts say is clearly untenable.
"In general, consolidation will probably happen. The question is when and how. We have been acquiring as well," said Simon Leung, Motorola's senior vice president of Asia, at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit.
"Partnership is probably the norm going forward rather than the exception. If the right opportunity presents itself we will not hesitate."
In February, top handset maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sanyo Electric Co. (6764.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said they would jointly develop and make phones for the CDMA standard, which is dominant in the United States and popular in parts of Latin America and Asia.
The same month, Motorola Chief Executive Ed Zander said the company was considering a partnership with a Japanese phone maker to launch handsets to boost its presence in Japan. Continued...
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