Mobile phones are flying off the shelves before Christmas and sales are heading for record highs this year as the global economy recovers and low-priced models go on the market.
The bad news? Handset makers cannot keep up with demand.
In their efforts to avoid the dreaded mistake of 2001, when they miscalculated demand to the tune of 100 million units, phone producers are cautious and have run short of components.
The result is that demand is outstripping supply in most regions of the world, from emerging markets in Russia and India to saturated markets of the United States, Europe and Japan where consumers are swapping old models for fancy new ones.
The fact that supply is tight means old inventories can at last be sold off. One source said that one quarter of a million old-style handsets with monochrome displays that were sitting in a warehouse were recently shipped to distributors.
Anything to fill the shops.
News source: CNN Tech
The bad news? Handset makers cannot keep up with demand.
In their efforts to avoid the dreaded mistake of 2001, when they miscalculated demand to the tune of 100 million units, phone producers are cautious and have run short of components.
The result is that demand is outstripping supply in most regions of the world, from emerging markets in Russia and India to saturated markets of the United States, Europe and Japan where consumers are swapping old models for fancy new ones.
The fact that supply is tight means old inventories can at last be sold off. One source said that one quarter of a million old-style handsets with monochrome displays that were sitting in a warehouse were recently shipped to distributors.
Anything to fill the shops.
News source: CNN Tech
Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBoS) expect to have the majority of their customers moved by the end of 2004, but both will stretch into 2005 to complete the migration.
And HSBC has confirmed that it will take two years to move its six million customers to chip-based cards, with the bank's rollout programme only expected to be concluded by the end of 2005.
HBOS plans to start its rollout in the first quarter of 2003 and expects to take about 18 months to refresh its debit card customer base with new cards.
"We have quite a short period to get cards out to our eight million debit card holders, which we plan to have done by mid-2005," said John Capper, HBOS manager for service and delivery strategy banking.
"We've been through the scoping and design phases, and we'll move into the implementation stage early next year."
Abbey, meanwhile, confirmed that it will have issued its 4.5 million debit card customers with new cards by the end of 2004, while its internet subsidiary Cahoot has been issuing chip-based cards since July.
Abbey is giving customers new cards as their old ones expire or are lost, a process that has been accelerated by shortening the expiry date on many cards, ensuring that the replacement cycle falls within the timeframe.
I find that quote funny, where is da caution? :p
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