Customise to succeed, says ZTE

The company's handset strategy is two fold: to bring affordable smartphones to the market and to make sure the phones run smoothly on each carrier s network. ZTE s approach strongly supports the operator, with a larger percentage of the consumer s spend going to the operator rather than the handset manufacturer, said ZTE Executive Vice President and head of the Mobile Terminals Division, He Shiyou.
Shiyou affirms that ZTE will be delivering smartphones into most Western European markets by the end of 2010. So, what better place to start then one with the highest mobile phone penetration rates in the world?
ZTE and TMN, Portugal s largest mobile operator, began working together in May with the original Bluebelt device which captured 30 per cent of the Portuguese smartphone market in just a few months. Pedro Gaspar, TMN's Director Terminal Developer told TelecomTV that those who purchased the phone were first time smartphone buyers.
The new 3.5G smartphones have been customized by ZTE specifically for the Portuguese youth market. Both the SilverBelt and the BlueBelt II are Windows-powered ultra-slim candy bar phones that feature 5 megapixel cameras. The Silverbelt has a 3.2 inch touch screen with a G-Sensor motion sensor supporting functions such as MP3 player controls and horizontal/vertical screen switch. TheBluebelt II has both touch screen and a physical QWERTY keyboard with dedicated keys especially customized by TMN.
Both ZTE/TMN smartphones support WAP, Bluetooth, video and audio streaming, web browser and USB 2.0 connectivity and provide up to 8GB data storage capacity and high-speed data rates of up to 7.2 Mbps on HSDPA/HSUPA networks.
"ZTE perceives its flexibility in meeting operator customisation requirements on a huge scale as a key to this success," said Tony Cripps of Ovum.
The company also announced this week that it will deliver handsets to mobile network operator 3 in the UK, Ireland and Sweden. This is the first time the Chinese vendor enters the Swedish market. "We are becoming a force in the handset market in Europe and will continue to partner with reputable operators to produce outstanding results, said Tony Brunt, ZTE UK Sales Director looking after H3G Global. The ZTE F102 is 3G and tri-band GSM-enabled smartphone with a 2 megapixel camera, MP3 player, colour screen, Bluetooth, USB and a Micro SD memory card.
Meanwhile, ZTE's iconic X760 has to date been adopted by more than 20 operators in 24 regions across the globe. The phone has a 1.3 megapixel camera and a large screen to display images, MP3 player, and Bluetooth.