According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, mobile phone wholesale (trade) revenues in India will grow by 17% in 2014. This is faster than the global average. Solid mobile phone volumes and rising wholesale prices due to a 3G boom will drive revenues higher.  More analysis and forecasts can be viewed by clients here. 

This week, unconfirmed rumors resurfaced that Lenovo of China may be interested in merging its smartphone division with NEC Casio of Japan in H2 2013. Lenovo has been running a separate venture with NEC in the PC business since 2011.

According to our Country Share Tracker (CST) service, NEC Casio performed well in the Japanese mobile phone market during the early-2000s, but it has drifted into the mid-table rankings this year in both local handset and smartphone market share due to mixed products, slow rollouts and suboptimal distribution.

By contrast, Lenovo is putting in the utmost efforts trying to increase its market presence in smartphones, based partly on its market penetration of the PC industry, which resulted in Lenovo taking 6th place in our global smartphone rankings during Q1 2013. Lenovo is doing particularly well in its home smartphone market of China, where it is an established top-5 player.

The creation of a joint venture with NEC Casio could give Lenovo a greater foothold in the Japanese smartphone market. Lenovo will be targeting Japan because it will be the world's 4th biggest country by volume in 2014. If Lenovo could gain better traction in Japan through a JV with NEC Casio, it would pose a competitive threat to Fujitsu, Sharp, Sony, Kyocera, Apple, Samsung and others. Combining Lenovo's hunger for growth with NEC's high-end product experience could prove a solid combination.

However, it remains to be seen whether Japanese consumers or operators would warm to such an ambitious Chinese entrant -- especially given ongoing political tensions between the two countries. For these reasons, we believe a Lenovo-NEC-Casio merger, full or partial, if it happened, would be achievable, but any JV would probably struggle to move beyond niche status at home in Japan.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, NFC phones are reaching a tipping point this year and global volumes will more than double in 2013. Most new LTE handsets will launch with NFC in the future, led by key players such as Samsung, Blackberry, Android, Microsoft and Nokia. More analysis can be downloaded by clients here.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, Motorola's worldwide mobile phone shipments fell -52% annually in Q1 2013. Since Google acquired Motorola in Q3 2011, this grandfather of the cellphone industry has failed to post either a quarterly profit or a single quarterly increase in shipments, something only a fundamental overhaul of its handset development strategy can reverse. We recommend Motorola turn to the Nexus sub-brand to inject some magic back into its portfolio. More analysis can be downloaded by clients here.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, LG's worldwide mobile phone shipments, revenues, profits and pricing all rose faster than the industry averages during the first quarter of 2013. Due to an improved 4G handset portfolio, LG is on the comeback trail. Operators and consumers are re-warming to LG. However, there are challenges. The US and China -- the world’s two most important markets -- remain major problem-children for the South Korean vendor. More analysis can be downloaded by clients here.

According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, Ubuntu is preparing to enter the global smartphone market with its own platform, called "Ubuntu for Phone", during the next year. Ubuntu demonstrated its beta version of the operating system during CES and MWC 2013 and is aiming to produce an Ubuntu-powered smartphone some time in late-2013 or early-2014. What opportunities and challenges will the Ubuntu phone have when it finally hits the market? What volume can Ubuntu expect to ship worldwide? Which device makers will support this new platform, and will it pose a significant threat to the two influential platform giants: Android and Apple iOS? The full report is published and available to clients here.

Our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) team is proud to attend Huawei's 10th Global Analyst Summit between Tuesday 23rd to Thursday 25th April, 2013. Around 500 analysts and journalists are attending the event at a hotel in Shenzhen, China, near Hong Kong. Just 20 people attended the first Summit a decade ago.

Huawei has been outlining its strategy for mobile devices, enterprises and networks in 2013 / 2014. These are three of our top findings from Day One (Tuesday):

1. Brand is king for Huawei. The Make It Possible (MIP) campaign, which aims to make the brand more emotive, is being ramped up across 30+ countries (e.g. UK);

2. Huawei Ascend W1, the vendor's first WP8 smartphone, was demoed. Its pricing is competitive, at circa US$120 wholesale worldwide in H1 2013. Usability is typical of a mid-range device -- good, but not great (e.g. mixed touchscreen responsiveness);

3. NFC will play an important role in Huawei's smartphone and tablet strategy for the next two years.

More analysis from Day Two to follow on Wednesday.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, Nokia shipped 62 million mobile phones worldwide in Q1 2013, down to 2005 levels, in a seasonally weaker post-holiday quarter with consequent sluggish demand in feature phones globally. In contrast, Nokia saw demand for its line of WP8-based Lumia smartphones grow robustly as it expanded the reach to dozens of new markets. Additionally, tighter cost controls and lower operating expenses helped Nokia eke out some positive operating profits. However, Nokia has its work cut out for the rest of 2013 to ramp up Lumia smartphone shipments quickly to offset the Symbian and feature phone slowdowns. Improving its sub-par performance in China, US, UK, Japan and Korea should also be a priority for Nokia this year. More analysis can be viewed by clients in this published report: http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=reportabstractviewer&a0=8429.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, Nokia shipped 62 million mobile phones worldwide in Q1 2013, down to 2005 levels, in a seasonally weaker post-holiday quarter with consequent sluggish demand in feature phones globally. In contrast, Nokia saw demand for its line of WP8-based Lumia smartphones grow robustly as it expanded the reach to dozens of new markets. Additionally, tighter cost controls and lower operating expenses helped Nokia eke out some positive operating profits. However, Nokia has its work cut out for the rest of 2013 to ramp up Lumia smartphone shipments quickly to offset the Symbian and feature phone slowdowns. Improving its sub-par performance in China, US, UK, Japan and Korea should also be a priority for Nokia this year. More analysis can be viewed by clients in this published report: http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=reportabstractviewer&a0=8429.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, Nokia shipped 62 million mobile phones worldwide in Q1 2013, down to 2005 levels, in a seasonally weaker post-holiday quarter with consequent sluggish demand in feature phones globally. In contrast, Nokia saw demand for its line of WP8-based Lumia smartphones grow robustly as it expanded the reach to dozens of new markets. Additionally, tighter cost controls and lower operating expenses helped Nokia eke out some positive operating profits. However, Nokia has its work cut out for the rest of 2013 to ramp up Lumia smartphone shipments quickly to offset the Symbian and feature phone slowdowns. Improving its sub-par performance in China, US, UK, Japan and Korea should also be a priority for Nokia this year. More analysis can be viewed by clients in this published report: http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=reportabstractviewer&a0=8429.