Asia finally gets date with BenQ-Siemens

Goodbye Siemens, hello BenQ-Siemens
Ready or not, BenQ-Siemens is now official. Coming three days after its global announcement, the company has finally confirmed dates for the rollout of its phones in Asia. BenQ Asia Pacific Corp's vice president Philip Newton also revealed at today's press launch that customers can expect 30 percent of BenQ Mobile's portfolio to comprise 3G-based phones, with every three out of four products featuring a music player or FM radio, and every second phone offering at least a 1.3-megapixel camera. However, first up will be the final two Siemens-branded mobiles, the SL75 and S75, coming out in late January, followed by BenQ's S500 a month later. Handsets appearing under the joint marque--the Sony Ericsson-looking S88, the S68 and 3G-capable RAZR-like EF81--will make an appearance in Asia only between February and April. When asked how the company would create a clearly differentiated product proposition in a highly competitive and saturated market, Newton would say only that there will be "a lot of surprising adaptations to the mobile phones in the next 12 months", with "unique features and innovations that our customers are looking for". Newton also added that BenQ Mobile will adopt a "holistic approach to service marketing where customers can access information on warranty issues, product updates, etc., 24/7 online". To date, Siemens has two service centers in Singapore, which will now come under the joint brand name. The takeover of Siemens AG's Mobile Devices Business has certainly given Taiwan-based BenQ an instant leg up to becoming the world's fourth-largest handset maker. As BenQ Corp's CEO KY Lee explained of the acquisition: "BenQ had to sieze the opportunity afforded by Siemens to reach a scale that would otherwise take seven to eight years to achieve." Newton sees the move as complementary: "Our strengths were the same as their weaknesses, and their strengths were the same as our weaknesses." So can this newcomer follow the same path successfully carved out by another earlier partnership, Sony Ericsson? Only time will tell. But as far as ambitions go, BenQ Mobile has outlined its 2006 growth strategy, at least for Singapore, to be a Top 5 vendor in mobiles with a 5 percent market share, growing to Top 3 with a 10 percent share by the end of 2007.