"China’s ZTE Blade sales surpass iPhone sales in UK"

[Guest crblues]

http://www.shanzai.com/index.php/articles/14/1108.html

Even if the numbers aren't quite wright, I guess they could be a bit exaggerated.

Just the thought of a phone in this price range and with such a low investment in publicity, being sold by "the boatloads" is something to consider.

The force of a community like "ours" is something that a builder should not overlook!

Even if by giving this terminal updates ZTE is delaying making money in the next one because people are happy with having a phone that keeps on getting better, ZTE is getting something in return that is much more valuable than money, they are getting a group of followers, and that my friends is invaluable!

If any doubt remains check the example "Apple" and the so called "fan boys". They are a mighty promoting force and they cost ZERO to Apple! But that force was constructed during time, giving them things that others didn't. Like software that would cost a PC user lots of money! Apple "lost" money first but now they can sell sh*t and still people buy it and stand for days outside a store to be the first to smell it... hehehe

So if ZTE wants it's place as the "10'th global builder worldwide" to last, I think it would be of they'r best interest to keep the development for the Blade. I would go as far as suggesting they made every thing possible to be the first builder to support Cyanogen officially, following the example of Samsung that gave a phone to the team, reportedly. I would suggest that ZTE should contact officially Cyanogen mod's team and offer any help necessary to become the first builder to be "Hacker Friendly". That would have such a repercussion on the media that any costs would be easily and largely covered by the benefits in image for the company.

Sorry for the lengthy post and for any mistake in language as i don't speak Ingrish... hehehe

Please post your thoughts on this, and if you think my reasoning is wrong in some way.

[Guest shmizan]

I would not lie, a thought crossed my mind about buying some ZTE stocks after I started fiddling with this amazing phone :)

[Guest yellowperil]

A little optimistic in my opinion 2 million handsets in 6 months, and a further 78 million estimated in the next 6 months...... lol

I would just be happy with the 2 mill and expand on that, as for the hedging there bets on a windows phone, for the love of android noooooooooo, why destroy a decent company by not only just shooting yourself in the foot, but by shooting yourself in every toe on that foot.

ZTE should be looking at upping the res, the processor and supporting flash in the next gen zte phone, and keep that price down, and I can seriously see zte upsetting some of the bigger boys in the market place.

[Guest cgk]

Raw numbers are comparing chalk and cheese - ZTE sell handsets that are high volume, low margins (and more than likely quality of profit), while Apple sell handsets that are high volume and high margins.

[Guest abarthman]

A little optimistic in my opinion 2 million handsets in 6 months, and a further 78 million estimated in the next 6 months...... lol

They claim to have sold 2 million Blades in the UK and they expect to sell 80 million handsets (not just Blades) wordwide (not just in the UK). Edited July 4, 2011 by abarthman

[Guest JT_daniel]

They claim to have sold 2 million Blades in the UK and they expect to sell 80 million handsets (not just Blades) wordwide (not just in the UK).

lol 2 million blades in the UK? Anybody care to guess how many of those blades are currently IN the UK? :)

[Guest Stuart_f]

Apple's revenue model is a bit like Nintendo, Sony and Sega's approach to games consoles. Sell the hardware and make a profit on it if you can but then sit back and watch the through-life profit come in from your cut of the software sales. ZTE, on the other hand, makes all of it's money on the hardware and gets nothing from any software.

Trying to compare the two models in terms of units sold it as pointless as it is misleading.

[Guest k0zmic]

Apple actually don't make that much from App Store and Media sales, most of their profit actually comes from hardware iPhone sales. Source: http://www.insidemobileapps.com/2011/01/18/apple-revenue/

[Guest ronc2000]

ZTE should thank this community, without which the number of Blades sold should have been much much less had it not been able upgrade to froyo 2.2.

[Guest crblues]

Hello

I agree with K0zmic... I think both companies profit mostly from the selling of hardware, but the difference is that it is much easier for Apple to sell their products. And here is my point, If ZTE takes some clues from the business model of Apple, it will sell their products much easily, and I think that the fastest way they could achieve that is if they released their code into the wild and profited from the mass of people willing to work for "free" for them.

If a client is happy because some gadget he bought turns out to be better or improved beyond what he expected when he bought it, isn't it much more likely he will buy another product of the same brand in the future?

So, even if the numbers aren't correct, I agree they are exaggerated. This is the first "china phone" aka "shanzai phone" to be sold in Europe this easily, and that is something to think about.

[Guest Stuart_f]

Apple actually don't make that much from App Store and Media sales, most of their profit actually comes from hardware iPhone sales. Source: http://www.insidemobileapps.com/2011/01/18/apple-revenue/

Err.. the devil is in the detail. If you look at the table under the pie chart you will find that "iPhone" means, "iPhone and related products and services". iTunes only includes purchases not related to a portable music device (those bought via a desktop in other words).

[Guest k0zmic]

The thing with Apple is that their profit margins are simply gigantic, ZTE's are paper thin so ZTE basically have to sell volume in order to profit.

But yes as crblues said customer satisfaction basically goes a long way and can lead to repeat purchase and a positive brand image.

Good point regarding it being the first phone from China to sell so well, I think other Chinese OEM's are trying to emulate this formula, i.e. Huawei's Titan may cost a bit more but it provides excellent 'bang for buck' along with a solid dev community (I think it's getting CM support).

Edited July 4, 2011 by k0zmic