Samsung has achieved a 64.7% growth in its mobile devices business in Qatar from the fourth quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012 and is aiming for more, a senior official from Samsung Gulf Electronics has said.
“This has been on the basis of a solid product offering, following the launch of the Galaxy S II, Galaxy Note and a range of tablets including the Galaxy Tab 10.1, 8.9, 7.7 and 7.0 Plus,” explained Ashraf Fawakherji, head of Telecommunications Group.
Samsung’s current market share in the mobile devices market in Qatar stood at 29.9% in the first quarter of 2012.
“We expect the Qatar smartphone and tablet industry to experience upward growth in 2012 with more consumers embracing new technologies and smart devices such as the Galaxy Tab,” Fawakherji stated.
Business Monitor International has forecast the consumer electronics market in Qatar to reach $780mn by 2015, driven by new technologies and the growing popularity of digital lifestyle products such as smartphones and tablets, LED TV sets, feature-rich notebook computer, digital cameras, as well as other key product groups.
A report released recently by Morgan Stanley states that the tablet market is poised to be bigger than expected with 2012 tablet shipments expected to touch 100mn in the best case scenario.
“Samsung is set to lead this segment,” claimed Fawakherji while observing that the Korean giant’s current tablets line-up boast a thin and light form factor while integrating the top of the line technologies.
The tablets are based on the Android™ 3.1 (Honeycomb) platform, which offers superior multi-tasking, enhanced user interaction and navigation capabilities.
“Combined with features such as speed, light weight, a customised user experience, an entertainment hub and enterprise ready applications, the new Tablets give consumers more possibilities on the go,” he maintained.
According to Gartner’s top predictions for 2012, by 2015, mobile application development projects targeting smartphones and tablets will outnumber native PC projects as the smartphone and tablet industry continue to expand rapidly.
Smartphones and tablets will represent over 90% of the net-new growth in device adoption for the coming four years as per the report.
A recent research by Morgan Stanley indicated that 68% of respondents regularly used their tablets to browse the Internet. E-mail and social networking ranked the second and third most popular activities amongst tablet consumers with 62% and 53%, respectively.
“This research, while providing insight on consumer usage of the tablet, reinforces the popularity of the multi-functional, portable computing device,” the Samsung official said.
Fawakherji stressed that Samsung has a strong retail presence in Qatar thanks to the support from its distributors and retail partners.
“Our partner relationships are solely focused on creating the best solutions for their customers. We place tremendous value on these partnerships as these companies continuously achieve their sales and business goals and take proactive steps in ensuring that Samsung continues to ride the growth momentum in the country,” he added.
