South Korean handset-maker Samsung will be more aggressive next year in its bid to narrow the gap in its market share behind industry leader Nokia.

Kittipong Kanokvilairat, general manager for the mobile-phone business at Thai Samsung Electronics, yesterday said Samsung currently enjoyed the second-largest share in the Thai market and wanted to close in on Nokia. "Next year, we want to grow 50 per cent in terms of market share," said Kittipong.

To achieve that goal, he said that next year, mobile-phone users would see a greater variety of trendy Samsung mobile phones in all segments, from colour-screen phones for the mass market to premium multimedia "ultra-thin" models.

"We expect to unveil more than five new models in this quarter and at least 10 next quarter," said Kittipong.

Samsung has enlisted M Link Asia as its new handset distributor partner. When added to its existing partners - IEC, Bliss-Tel and Digital Phone - that's further expanded its sales network nationwide.

The company will also spend more on marketing activities and sales support, but Kittipong declined to specify a budget.

Moreover, Samsung will place a greater emphasis on the appealing features of its existing and upcoming high-end mobile phones, such as the U-Go function, which keeps changing the screen display into landmarks of the country in which the user is travelling.

For example, if the user is in Thailand, the phone screen will display a wallpaper of the Emerald Buddha Temple, but upon arrival in London, the display will change to Big Ben. Some of the company's premium phone models feature an SOS system: after the user taps four times on the volume key, the phone sends an emergency message to predefined people.

Kittipong predicts total handset sales in the market next year will total about 8 million, up from an estimated 7.5 million this year.

Sirivish Toomgum

The Nation