Want to bet a few major handset vendors will miss this one? In a few years from now, some top mobile execs will be scratching their heads wondering why they just lost a chunk of smartphone market share in some vital growing markets. Yes, it's time to double down -- now.
So, as twain would say, "History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme." And here we go a second time.
Dual-SIM handsets were around since the mid-'90s as street vendors in Asia learned how to glue together the guts of two handsets and subscribers got clever juggling accounts. Then some no-name brands started filling the dual market demand. Most major handset vendors were late to the game giving smaller Asian vendors an opportunity to gain some share. Then Samsung came along with their DUOS feature phones which became popular in some BRIC markets.
Now a similar trend is happening with smartphones. Some smaller Asian vendors introduced dual-SIM smartphones. Then Samsung came along with their Galaxy DUOS dual-SIM phone. And etc.
Now here come more. Viewsonic introduced four dual-SIM Android-based smartphone at Mobile World Congress this week. Two of them are based on Android 4.0 ICS.
Given the market stats of dual-SIM subscribers, there's nothing more to explain here.
Recommendation to smartphone vendors: Go dual. Unlike things such as projector phone, dual-SIM will be no tiny niche.
Viewsonic's dual-SIM smartphone lineup.
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