The Pinoy is culturally more Western oriented than the average Thai, Malay, and ethnic Chinese of Southeast Asia.
A jejemon is the tech aware (if not savvy) evolution of the online CD-class Filipino. Culturally, he is closer to the average American than his regional neighbors in the Far East. He and his ilk form a significant subset of the pervasive 95+% prepaid market.
Jejemons aspire for the things they see the high-brow flaunting at the malls and the local Starbucks. These latter members of the AB market, in their turn, whip out their Macs, iPhones, and iPads... or, at least, shout it out on Facebook (#8, all 14.6 million of them) and Twitter.
So, the upwardly mobile young Pinoy is Apple-crazy. Blackberries are for their dads & moms (only if dad has no choice at the office, and/or only if mom is an executive herself). Antennagate notwithstanding, the iPhone 4 and iPad will be surefire hits when they officially hit Philippine shores.
Even then, how many iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches do you see everyday in Manila? Not a whole lot.
Nokia continues to dominate the dumbphone market, while there are no clear smartphone leaders around. You are as likely to see Nokias as iPhones, Blackberries, Sony Ericssons, Samsungs, Motorolas, and... yes, HTCs while walking around Greenbelt.
Middle of last year, we predicted the rise of Android, Moblin, and Google Wave on the back of nomadic and mobile social networking. Moblin has been subsumed into MeeGo as Nokia dumped its own Maemo when it jumped into bed with Intel. Google Wave, however, is on life support, as of this writing.
Fearless forecast: Android has already overtaken Apple's iOS in global sales, and is gunning for Blackberry OS's throat. Symbian will decline, and Windows Phone 7 will not have much of a Windows Mobile base to speak of from which to take off. HP bought Palm intending to make WebOS ubiquitous.
Android will be top dog, followed by Blackberry or Apple. Symbian fades to irrelevance as Windows Phone 7 tries to be the next-big-thing. HP isn't Apple, and WebOS will not be a significant threat, at least not in the smartphone space.
Has or will Blackberry break out in the Philippines? Not a Chinaman's chance, unfortunately. That alarming Nielsen trend above is likely to hold true for the Philippines as well.
The era of the mobile phone subsidy in the Philippines is long past. Smartphones will remain the purview of the rich and the wannabes, who, in turn, have Apples in their eyes. Blackberries are way too expensive and, worse, aren't hip enough to bother with.
So, no, Research In Motion is way too optimistic about their prospects in the Philippines.
Price IS a barrier, especially since the carriers won't lift much of a finger for RIM's sake. In the Philippines, the era of iPhone-like subsidies for mobile web devices is dead even before it starts, unless you are Apple... maybe.
Jejemons aspire for the things they see the high-brow flaunting at the malls and the local Starbucks. These latter members of the AB market, in their turn, whip out their Macs, iPhones, and iPads... or, at least, shout it out on Facebook (#8, all 14.6 million of them) and Twitter.
So, the upwardly mobile young Pinoy is Apple-crazy. Blackberries are for their dads & moms (only if dad has no choice at the office, and/or only if mom is an executive herself). Antennagate notwithstanding, the iPhone 4 and iPad will be surefire hits when they officially hit Philippine shores.
Even then, how many iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches do you see everyday in Manila? Not a whole lot.
Nokia continues to dominate the dumbphone market, while there are no clear smartphone leaders around. You are as likely to see Nokias as iPhones, Blackberries, Sony Ericssons, Samsungs, Motorolas, and... yes, HTCs while walking around Greenbelt.
Middle of last year, we predicted the rise of Android, Moblin, and Google Wave on the back of nomadic and mobile social networking. Moblin has been subsumed into MeeGo as Nokia dumped its own Maemo when it jumped into bed with Intel. Google Wave, however, is on life support, as of this writing.
Fearless forecast: Android has already overtaken Apple's iOS in global sales, and is gunning for Blackberry OS's throat. Symbian will decline, and Windows Phone 7 will not have much of a Windows Mobile base to speak of from which to take off. HP bought Palm intending to make WebOS ubiquitous.Android will be top dog, followed by Blackberry or Apple. Symbian fades to irrelevance as Windows Phone 7 tries to be the next-big-thing. HP isn't Apple, and WebOS will not be a significant threat, at least not in the smartphone space.
Has or will Blackberry break out in the Philippines? Not a Chinaman's chance, unfortunately. That alarming Nielsen trend above is likely to hold true for the Philippines as well.The era of the mobile phone subsidy in the Philippines is long past. Smartphones will remain the purview of the rich and the wannabes, who, in turn, have Apples in their eyes. Blackberries are way too expensive and, worse, aren't hip enough to bother with.
So, no, Research In Motion is way too optimistic about their prospects in the Philippines.
Price IS a barrier, especially since the carriers won't lift much of a finger for RIM's sake. In the Philippines, the era of iPhone-like subsidies for mobile web devices is dead even before it starts, unless you are Apple... maybe.
