Audiovox Sells Phone Business To UTStarcom

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.americasnetwork.com/americasnetwork/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=99026' target='_blank'>http://www.americasnetwork.com/amer...il.jsp?id=99026</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Audiovox has agreed to sell its wireless handset division to UTStarcom for $165.1 million, saying it couldn't compete in an industry dominated by bigger players. Audiovox, a Hauppauge, N.Y.-based consumer electronics and communications company, said it is exiting the wireless handset business because it believes it no longer has "the capabilities to be a major player in that market". UTStarcom, an Alameda, Calif.- based company with extensive Chinese operations, said it believes the acquisition is a key milestone in its entry into the CDMA marketplace, one of the two major cellphone standards."</i><br /><br />I'm assuming UTStarcom is going to continue supporting Audiovox's devices, including the <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28298">4100 Pocket PC Phone</a> that AT&amp;T carries, although their focus will continue to be the CDMA market (Audiovox sells most of their phones through Verizon). This is certainly worth watching long-term to see how it affects the US phone market.

[dorelse]

Great...I just ordered the PPC4100 yesterday...glad I have 30 days trial to decide if I like it...hopefully that'll be long enough to figure out if the new company will support it....

[substring]

I think ATTWS needs to fire their entire Product Development group. First they hooked up with Siemens for the SX56 so they can jump into the pdaPhone market. And they found out the limitation on 1900MHz spectrum. Then they switched to Audiovox PPC4100 to take advantage of the 850MHz spectrum that they are building with Cingular. Looks like they got screwed again.... or it is the customers that got screwed AGAIN?

UTStarcom's main thrust is the China market. China is concentrating on CDMA, not GSM. Therefore, I can see the relationship of ATTWS and Audiovox will not last thru the end of this year.

Time to look for yet another device?!?!

[Gremmie]

I think ATTWS needs to fire their entire Product Development group. First they hooked up with Siemens for the SX56 so they can jump into the pdaPhone market. And they found out the limitation on 1900MHz spectrum. Then they switched to Audiovox PPC4100 to take advantage of the 850MHz spectrum that they are building with Cingular. Looks like they got screwed again.... or it is the customers that got screwed AGAIN?

UTStarcom's main thrust is the China market. China is concentrating on CDMA, not GSM. Therefore, I can see the relationship of ATTWS and Audiovox will not last thru the end of this year.

Time to look for yet another device?!?!

Is it ATT Wireless or the US cellular industry? Sadly, this industry is still finding footing. A main problem is the GSM spectrum in the US, we don't have the same spectrum as Europe. This adds a barrier to product migration. No matter what GSM product it is, it faces an uphill battle in a CDMA country.

[substring]

I am beginning to wonder that. China chooses CDMA over GSM, despite the rest of the world (in most parts) are on GSM. This creates a big problem. Since China market is soooo big (2nd to US market) that when China sneezes, everyone catches the cold. I get the feeling that it won't be long the other countries (esp those Asian countries near China) will jump on the CDMA bandwagon. Then the "demand-and-supply" snowball will begin to roll. Before you know it, the vendors will be gone to CDMA and abandon GSM.

Again, it will be us the consumers that get stuck with the expensive GSM devices.

[Gremmie]

Asia kinda goes their own way. Korea uses CDMA. But of course, Japan rules all countries in the cellular industry.

[Janak Parekh]

Is it ATT Wireless or the US cellular industry?
In this case, I think it's AT&T's incompetence.

A main problem is the GSM spectrum in the US, we don't have the same spectrum as Europe. This adds a barrier to product migration. No matter what GSM product it is, it faces an uphill battle in a CDMA country.
We're not really that overwhelmingly a CDMA country -- once the TDMA-to-GSM conversion is complete, we'll be something like 60-40 or so.

As for the world going to CDMA, it will -- just two different versions: cdma2000 (for existing CDMA carriers) and wCDMA (for existing GSM carriers).

--janak

[substring]

In this case, I think it's AT&T's incompetence.Totally agree. Now I begin to understand why "Ma-Bell" sold off ATTWS. :wink:

By the way, JD Power just asked me to do a survey on ATTWS. As a current "pissed-off" SX56 user, you know that poor signal strength and drop/missed calls are high on my list.