Boston, MA - June 9, 2011 – According to the latest Strategy Analytics research, more than 200 emerging handset brands, such as Micromax, Spice Mobile and Yulong Coolpad, captured nearly 13 percent of global mobile handset market share, shipping 48 million units globally in the first quarter 2011. This report highlights key micro vendor strategies in targeting the rising 3G and smartphone trends in the developing markets of Asia and Africa.

According to Neil Shah, Strategy Analytics Analyst, “Out of the 200-plus legitimate microvendors worldwide, the top 25 brands shipped nearly 21 million units in Q1 2011. Rising cellular subscriber growth in Asia and Africa has led to the rapid emergence of low-cost, mobile handset suppliers to fulfill rising handset demand.”

Shah added “In the long run, Strategy Analytics expects consolidation among some of these microvendor brands as the handset market saturates, with increased competition. Some of the leading microvendor brands look forward to gaining Tier-2 status by expanding operations beyond their domestic markets and increasing their portfolios across all price-tiers”

David Kerr, Vice President at Strategy Analytics, said, “In Q1 2011, Micromax, Spice Mobile and Yulong Coolpad emerged in India and China, as key vendors outperforming major international handset brands like Sony Ericsson and Motorola. Micromax and Spice successfully built their portfolio with feature-rich, multi-SIM handsets which span across ultra-low and entry-tier segments, catering to growing rural subscribers. These companies are now launching mid-tier 3G handsets and Android smartphones which target the growing category of urban and suburban 3G subscribers.” Kerr added, “Hong Kong-based vendor, Yulong Coolpad, is on track to becoming a known player in the China 3G market, supplying affordable, mid-tier 3G smartphones to suburban and urban users. Yulong Coolpad is growing relationships with all three Chinese mobile carriers, tapping the growing 3G boom in this important handset market.”

The full report on growing handset microvendor brands, “One to Watch: Coolpad Emerges in 3G Smartphones”, is published by the Strategy Analytics Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service.

The Strategy Analytics established Global Handset Vendor Marketshare report tracks the world's 30 largest handset vendors on a quarterly basis. This current report on micro vendors brings a higher level of granularity to the extensive database by adding the next largest 25 microvendors for the quarter.