August 26, 2004
China becoming a leader in cellphone design
"China, the world's largest cellular phone market with more than 305 million subscribers, is fast emerging as a leading center for mobile phone design as well", reports The Pulse Journal via China Digital News.
But the Chinese-designed phones aren't intended just for the huge domestic market. Nokia in Beijing accounts for more than 40 percent of the company's total shipped volume worldwide — all coming from handsets developed in Beijing and assembled globally, according to Steven P. Marcher, Nokia's Beijing Design Center Director.
Two years ago, leading Chinese handset vendors manufactured few of their products and designed even fewer. These days, with the exception of the chip sets themselves, design is done mainly in-house.
In a country where the mobile phone is still something of a status symbol and phones are often worn on leashes around the neck, exterior design is also extremely important."
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