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EMS company’s perspective on growing versatile Mobile Phones
Entertainment and utility services for mobile phones are growing from strength to strength, and in practice all Internet services can now be used with a mobile phone. For instance the mobile phone user can trade in securities, watch television, play games, send instant messages and follow the commentary of football matches in real time. The modern mobile phone can receive a staggering amount of entertainment and information, as well as providing all sorts of means of communication.
The convergence of multiple innovative functionalities in hand-held devices, such as the iPhone and the Blackberry, results in more complex devices. As a result of the mobile phone’s increasing features and functionalities, new companies, who previously had either no involvement or only a peripheral involvement with mobile phones, are entering the market. Companies like Apple, Google, Skype, and Vodafone are starting to build their own phones. This will influence the way we use these devices and how we buy and pay for them. WiMax changes the business model of the carrier as well as the connecting channel and can be used instead of the existing networks. From a manufacturing point of view, these trends need to be monitored carefully, and outsourcing service companies, like EMS providers, need to be able to adapt to, and accommodate, these trends.
With communications technology, everything is hidden deep in the value chain. Cost pressures on manufacturing services and the products themselves are more complex. The forecast of some mobile phone OEM is to launch forty-five to fifty new models in 2008, each with higher complexity. Some phones have lifecycles of only six to nine months, so processes must be integrated and the OEM needs help with sourcing and the supply chain.
There are new players and new technologies and they are testing the business models. Total cost of ownership should be closely scrutinized, especially now that EMS companies are getting involved from the design stage. The EMS must manage and reduce complexity for OEM. Not only must the EMS handle ramp-up, but be prepared and able to ramp down and reduce capacity quickly. Cost-effective complexity management is the key issue for OEMs in the new market. The right EMS partner for them should provide a wide variety of electronics and customized mechanics-related services, integrating these through professional product and program management and minimize the total cost of ownership.
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Topics:
Communication Technology, Corporate Responsibility, Elcoteq, ems, Handset, IEMS, Mobile phones, WiMax
