By Alexander Villafania, loQal.ph
For Yahoo! Southeast Asia
MAKATI CITY, METRO MANILA – After successfully penetrating the entry- to mid-range market for mobile phones in the Philippines, phone manufacturer Cherry Mobile is setting its sights on the cutthroat high-end market that is dominated by major phone brands.
The company recently introduced its first batch of touch screen phones that are running Google’s Android operating system.
The Nova, Magnum HD, and Superion are the company’s latest entrant in the high-end user segment. It is a follow up to the launch of the company’s Eclipse, considered its first high-end phone and also uses the Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 OS.
All the Cherry Mobile Android phones have touch screen capabilities, 3G and WiFi connectivity, and high definition camera functions. These are also the first Cherry Mobile phones running on Qualcomm processors.
Sizes differ for each model, with the Nova being the smallest and the Superion as its biggest. The latter is also considered as the largest Android phone in any market as it has a 7-inch touch screen. In fact, the Superion is touted to be the company’s flagship tablet-type device to compete with the Apple iPad.
Each phone also uses a different Android flavor. For instance, the Nova uses Android Eclair 2.1 for smartphones while the Magnun HD and Superion are running on Android Froyo 2.2, which is used for devices with larger screens.
The company is also upgrading its Cherry Zone software download service to allow local users to download new Android applications.
The phones are also being priced at nearly half the cost of other brands, which the company is hoping will also target a bigger audience outside the traditional high-end user. The Nova is priced at P11,490, the Magnum HD is priced att P18,990 while the Superion is priced at P19,990.
Lonson Alejandrino, sales head of Cosmic Technologies, which Cherry Mobile in the Philippines, said in an interview that one of the reasons for bringing the high-end phones in the Philippines is largely to introduce cheaper devices that have the same functionalities as other brands of mobile phones.
He said that while the lower price point for their phones is a major driver for their growth in the Philippines, the growing affluence of Filipinos is also driving the demand for such phones.
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