Author: Lucy

The most recent data from Thailand has shown a new phase of decline has begun.

At a time in which political unrest is starting to take away from consumer confidence and is leading them to spend less, the smartphone market is starting to feel the pinch for the first time.

Recent figures have begun showing that the decline in the sales of these mobile devices is not a small one.

The Thailand Mobile Expo 2014 was just held in the country, running until the end of the weekend. Although many attended this largest exhibition of mobile phones, gadgets, and other tech devices at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, and it appeared to be just as booming as always, this was occurring within a smartphone market that is rapidly slowing in its sales.

This is the first time in four years that the smartphone market in the country has seen a sales decline.

Also contributing to the shrinking of the sales in this mobile device market is that many consumers have already purchased the technology and have yet to find a reason to want to upgrade to a massive degree. This is indicating that the country may have entered into a longer replacement cycle that is now considerable enough to actually affect the sales within that ecosystem.

This year’s event was the largest one yet, despite the fact that the organizer of the exhibition, Thailand Mobile Expo, M Vision Co, downgraded its sales projections by a tremendous 20 percent, to bring it to 1.2 billion baht (local currency).

That company isn’t the only one to revise its figures in a downward direction. Global research firm, IDC Thailand, has also done so, but in their case, they have reduced their sales projections by 25 to 30 percent growth, this year. This is a reduction from having previously predicted that there would be a growth rate of 35 to 40 percent, as they had expected that there would be a 14 million unit sales volume.

Senior analyst for client devices at IDC, Jarit Sidhu, explained that the slowing growth rate in the smartphone market is primarily due to low customer confidence and sentiment in an environment of political instability.

New research estimates China’s mobile games market to make billions.

According to SuperData Research, the leading provider of digital games market intelligence, in 2014, the mobile games market in China is anticipated to break the $3 billion mark, which could result in the country becoming the leading market in the mobile gaming sector, bumping the U.S. out of the top spot.

The United States and China are the two largest players in the mobile games industry.

SuperData CEO Joost Van Dreunen said that while it is no surprise that these two countries are the biggest players in the market, “what is surprising is the rate at which China has caught up with especially large Western mobile game markets.” Dreunen has said that this is very exciting news for publishers, as the growth of the Chinese games market is not unlike the one the U.S. market experienced a few years back. The difference, however, is that China’s growth has greater potential for a larger audience.

The Super Data CEO stated that the United States gaming market is going through a transition. Instead of a game industry that has been physically retail-based, its focus is becoming much more digital. “Publishers must tailor their games to suit local markets,” Dreunen said. He added that “what works well in the US may not work well in China, and vice versa.” What is becoming more important in the games industry is process of localization, which has a direct impact on a game’s ability to convince players to buy.

SuperData’s 2014 Mobile Games Brief of China and the U.S., predicts that the global games market will exceed $20 billion by the end of the year.

The Chinese mobile gaming space is attracting investors.

According to Lisa Cosmas Hanson, the managing partner at research firm Niko Partners, the mobile games space in China is being embraced by investors. However, despite this fact, the recent report released by Niko Partners estimates that by 2018, the country’s PC online gaming market is likely to double.

Dreunen notes that like most Asian markets (with Japan being the exception), China does not have a very big market for physical retail games. Although it is probable that video game consoles will grow in popularity, as it is now legal to buy these devices, consoles like Xbox One are likely to face stiff competition in China where PC and mobile gaming remain dominant.