Asia wins Christmas mobile phone battle

Asian manufacturers have beaten their Scandinavian rivals in the Christmas mobile phone stakes in the UK, according to a major high street retailer.

Dixons-owned mobile phone outlet The Link said Japanese group NEC’s “clamshell” E616 folding handset was the season’s most popular pay-as-you-go mobile phone.

The Link said Korean group LG, with its 8120 folding videophone, took the top slot on contract tariffs in the period between mid-November and Christmas.

However, Finnish group Nokia was second placed in both categories with its pay-as-you-go 6610I handset and 6230 contract model, a spokeswoman for The Link said.

Nokia’s 3220 was third in the pay-as-you-go category while another Asian manufacturer, Samsung, took third place in contract phones with its E800, she said.

A spokeswoman for rival retailer Carphone Warehouse refused to give any details of festive sales for different handsets.

But she added that pay-as-you-go phones remained more popular than contract handsets during the Christmas period, while camera phones and videophones sold particularly well.

Christmas is crucial to mobile phone makers, especially for phones sold on pay-as-you-go tariffs, with hundreds of thousands of handsets bought as presents.

The news represents further evidence of the growing challenge posed by Asian manufacturers to traditional market leaders such as Finnish group Nokia and Swedish firm Ericsson.

The success of NEC and LG was due to strong support they have received from third generation mobile operator 3, controlled by Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa, the Financial Times said.

The mobile operator is widely expected to have secured the majority of new customers during the festive period after a price-cutting drive and heavily-subsidised phones.