The Spanish group Telefónica said their handsets will go on sale in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela in mid-2013 – the same time that the handsets will be launched in Spain. Further launches are planned in both Europe and Latin America in late 2013 and 2014.

The carrier claims that consumers will have a choice of competitively priced devices, enabling them to have a compelling and affordable Internet experience. Telefónica is also in discussions with Huawei and other manufacturers to see how the Firefox OS can be extended into even more devices.

América Móvil, contolled by billionaire Carlos Slim, is on the same path and will release Firefox OS cell phones.

Since these mobile devices are expected to cost about $100, the companies hope they will help boost revenue and profit. In the Latin American region, the high price of smartphones has been a barrier to widespread adoption.

Latin America is “the highest growing Internet society in the world,” Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs told Bloomberg. “Telefonica and América Móvil are very important.”

The first Firefox OS handsets to be released in these markets will be manufactured by Alcatel One Touch, LG and ZTE, featuring Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor.

The Firefox OS plans were released last year, when a global group of device makers and carriers quietly prepared to launch smartphones that run Mozilla’s Firefox operating system. At the time, ZTE said that it expected to start shipping smartphones based on an operating system it developed with Mozilla by the first quarter of 2013.

With these launches, Telefónica and América Móvil will join a group of 16 other mobile operators that support the Firefox OS: China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Hutchison Three Group, KDDI, KT, MegaFon, Qtel, SingTel, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia Group, Telenor, Telstra, TMN and VimpelCom.

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“Venezuela was chosen as first Latin American country because we have a 65% market share there,” said Adriano Lino, BlackBerry market intelligence manager, during a press conference to announce the BB10. Despite the company’s recent fall in sales, Colombia is another market where BlackBerry has a huge penetration. Lino said the Blackberry’s market share used to be 70% and decreased to 49% of the total market in the country.

Globally, BlackBerry usage has declined as Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Android have risen. However, in Latin America, the cell phone maker has kept a strong market share mostly with corporate clients. In Brazil, for instance, the company said it has 15% of the total market and 42% in the corporate segment.

Indeed, the enterprise segment has been a key pillar for BlackBerry since its smartphones are recognized as secure and corporate-focused. But the company has to watch out for more competition in that area as well. Samsung recently announced an agreement to extend the capabilities of its enterprise-designated devices by integrating GENBAND’s unified communications applications.

The Samsung for Enterprise initiative, or SAFE, focuses on security. The world’s leading smartphone maker starts off at a slight disadvantage when it comes to security since its phones run Google’s Android operating system, considered less secure than other systems because of its open architecture. But mobile security experts say there is an unmet demand for secure Android devices, particularly among government customers.

It remains to be seen how BlackBerry will respond to this move and whether its z10 and Q10 can save company. The company is trying to embrace the consumer market.  BlackBerry’s new operating system will support both a corporate and a personal identity on one device, and both will be encrypted.

Also, in Brazil, BlackBerry said users will be able to use its devices without the need to subscribe to a BlackBerry plan. Certainly, a step intended to engage more users.

Sales strategy
Lino said that in Brazil, BlackBerry has closed partnership deals with major four telecom operators (Vivo, TIM, Claro and Oi) to sell the BB10 although he did not disclose what the devices will cost. In the past, the company used to make exclusive deals. The cell phone maker also said it is “in discussions” with Nextel, which is currently launching 3G networks in the country.

Lino is betting that sales in Brazil will be driven by the advance of LTE technology since carriers are seeking devices to support their services. The Blackberry devices that will soon arrive in Brazil are compatible with 2.6 GHz frequency band, which is the country’s chosen spectrum for LTE. This week, Nokia also released its Lumia 920 and 820 devices which are also compatible with Brazil’s LTE spectrum.

Lino also noted that enterprises are constantly renewing their devices, and he sees a great opportunity to sell BB10 devices in the corporate market. In addition, Lino admitted that the consumer market is really interesting for the company. “Obviously, we don’t want to lose the corporate segment, but this product meets consumer demands as well,” he said.

Be sure not to miss:

• BlackBerry Fusion Mobile could help RIM retain Latam enterprise lead
• Mobile enterprise battle: Could Microsoft/Nokia threaten RIM’s leadership?

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“The 10-year-old Symbian OS was facing several problems, and Nokia needed to renew it. Nokia’s brand is admired in Brazil, but our portfolio wasn’t meeting consumers’ demands,” Narcizo said, recognizing that the lack of suitable portfolio contributed to Nokia’s loss of market share. “Now, we have an excellent portfolio. Be careful Samsung and Apple because we are now extremely competitive.”

Narcizo highlighted that this year is a turning point for Nokia both in Brazil and worldwide. “Nokia chose the Windows Phone instead of Android because it wanted to be different. We had concerns about whether the developer community would follow and develop applications for this OS, but yes, they did,” he said.

His optimism about the Brazilian market is based on “excellent pre-sales of Lumia 920 and devices have sold-out.” However, Narcizo did not reveal specific sales numbers. Nokia also relies on LTE services for future launches since the Lumia 920 and 820 are compatible with 2.6 GHz frequency band, which is Brazil’s chosen spectrum for LTE. Apple’s iPhone 5 does not use this frequency band.

Nokia does have a major challenge for the region: it lacks low-cost smartphones. The new Lumia high-end devices come to the market without subsidies and retail between U.S.$1,000 and $460. The Asha series has a maximum price of $200. Sooner or later, most mobile phone companies will have to begin to move their feature phone customer base toward a more sophisticated device. And Nokia, which used to be king in the feature phone market, needs to follow this trend.

Narcizo said it could be easy for consumers to migrate from feature phones to the Asha series.

“Nokia’s business is focused on feature phones; it is very strong in the region,” Kevin Restivo, IDC senior research analyst told RCR Wireless News . According to Restivo, Asha could help Nokia with this situation and Latin America could be a “trampoline” for Nokia’s success.

“It will be difficult for anyone to take the lead from Samsung’s Android anytime soon. I don’t believe that any company will catch up to Samsung in the near future,” he said.

When asked if Nokia can recover its leading position in Brazil, Restivo said that Nokia’s brand is still very valued but not as strong as it used to be.

Nokia is manufacturing both the Lumia 620 and 820 locally at its Manaus plant in the state of Amazonas. Nokia is also studying how to locally produce the 920, but it still lacks the volume to justify the move. 

A turning point for Nokia?
For several years, Nokia has struggled and watched its market leadership fall to competition from Samsung and Apple. But better days may be in sight after the Finnish cell phone maker unveiled its Windows Phone Lumia smartphone series, following a partnership with Microsoft, and launched its emerging-market-focused Asha series (with  Nokia’s S40).

When releasing its full year and fourth quarter results for 2012, Nokia admitted that the year-on-year decline in its mobile phone volume was due to the challenging competitive  and market environments, which negatively affected volume across its mobile phone portfolio.

Toward the end of the second quarter of 2012, Nokia introduced affordable Asha full touch smartphones and sold 15.8 million units in the second half 2012.  In the fourth quarter, Nokia totaled 15.9 million units globally, including:

•  9.3 million Asha full touch smartphones
•  4.4 million Lumia smartphones
•  2.2 million Symbian smartphones

Although Nokia’s financial results were below expectations, they did show some recovery. Now, only time will tell if Nokia will be able to continue to turn its business around.

Related links:

• Android and iOS combine for 91.1% of worldwide smartphone OS market in 4Q12 and 87.6% for the year, according to IDC
• Gartner says worldwide mobile phone sales declined 1.7%  in 2012
• Nokia returns to profitability

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California-based tech giant Apple has some rights to the iPhone trademark in Brazil, including the right to use the word in games, toys, Christmas tree decorations, clothing, headgear and printed materials as well as several other categories.

The decision on the matter was expected, but was published yesterday in the Industrial Property Magazine, which serves as Brazil’s copyright regulator Institute of Industrial Property’s official publication of record for trademark and patent protection.

Last year, IGB Eletrônica, which operates under the Gradiente name in Brazil, began selling a line of smartphones using Google’s Android operating system under the name “G Gradiente Iphone.”

According to the BBC, Apple has lodged an appeal against the decision with Brazilian regulators. Apple’s PR team in Brazil did not return RCR Wireless News’ requests for comment.

As for Gradiente, the company did not say if it will sue Apple for exclusivity of using the iPhone trademark. As for now Apple can continue to sell iPhone-branded handsets in Brazil.

Brazil is not the first Latin American country where Apple has faced trademarks’ issues. Last year, Apple lost a trademark battle with Mexico’s iFone, which holds the relevant trademark for telecommunication services.

Be sure not to miss:

• Apple may lose right to iPhone name in Brazil
• ‘Iphone’ running Android hits the market in Brazil

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In Brazil, the Brazilian manufacturer Gradiente, not Apple, holds the rights to the iPhone trademark. Gradiente was granted the trademark registration to use the term in 2008 when referring to cellular telephone apparatus, cellular telephone devices that enable Internet access for both fixed and mobile telephony, digital antennas, protective cases, batteries, chargers, speakers, and hands-free parts and accessories included in this class.

Apple has some rights to the iPhone trademark in Brazil, including the right to use the word in games, toys, Christmas tree decorations, clothing, headgear and printed materials as well as several other categories.

The impasse came about when Gradiente re-launched its Iphone brand, announcing a new line of smartphones using Google’s Android operating system under the name “G Gradiente Iphone.”

Since Gradiente is the exclusive holder of the brand registration rights in Brazil, it is unclear whether Apple would be able to keep its smartphone name in the country.

Gradiente noted that it had not used the Iphone name until now because the company was going through a restructuring process and that was its priority. Gradiente re-entered the mobile phone market this year, following an announcement by the Companhia Brasileira de Tecnologia Digital (CBTD or Brazilian Digital Technology Company), the firm responsible for leasing and managing Gradiente’s marks.

Be sure not to miss:

• ‘Iphone’ running Android hits the market in Brazil

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In the third quarter of 2012 alone, 769,000 tablet units were sold in Brazil. IDC expects that Brazil will close 2012 with 2.9 million units sold, and during 2013, 5.4 million tablets units will be sold. This is a huge increase.

Compared with the second quarter of 2012, the number is 2% higher, but when compared with the same period last year, the growth is 127%.

One explanation for this trend is that tablets were at the top of Brazilian consumers’ wish lists this year, and sales have followed a continuous and sustainable growth despite today’s less favorable economic environment compared to previous periods, said Attila Belavary, a market analyst at IDC Brazil.

Belavary noted that many manufacturers are investing in selling tablets with inferior features, focusing instead on offering competitive prices and targeting consumers who are not as concerned with the product’s technical specifications. Of the total number of tablets sold during the third quarter in Brazil, 46% cost less than U.S.$250, and 80% use the Android operating system.

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Carriers are making investments, preparing and in some cases, launching their LTE operations. The biggest driver could be Brazil, since four big Brazilian carriers need to launch services in cities that will host Confederations Cup next year. To cover this, RCR Wireless News released a feature report about the LTE roll out across the region.

Even with the start of LTE deployment, Latin American and Caribbean wireless carriers continue to focus on the expansion and improvement of 3G networks. Wi-Fi, femtocells, microwaves and towers are expected to receive the largest share of telecom operators’ investment and effort.

Carriers’ 3G networks have a lot of room to grow. Although mobile penetration in Latin America has surpassed 100%, the vast majority of mobile connections (81%) are prepaid and 2G (GSM with 81% of total connections and CDMA with 2%). As smartphone prices continue to drop, the number of 3G users is expected to increase. RCR Wireless News’ feature report: “Mobile broadband rush propels Latin American infrastructure market” addresses this issue.

MVNOs were also in the news as Brazil passed new MVNO regulations, and Virgin Mobile announced its Latin American operations and launched services in Chile. Although Virgin Mobile’s launches have been delayed, the arrival of a new player is seen as a good development for  wireless market competition. Read the feature report.

Antenna legislation was in the news too as both Chile and Brazil adopted new regulations.

2012 top 10 most viewed Latin American stories

1. Smartphone penetration: 24% in Argentina, 20% in Mexico, 14% in Brazil
2. Reality Check: Eight Brazilian telecom issues to watch
3. Reality Check: Femtocells versus Wi-Fi hotspots—What is the best solution for Brazilian carriers?
4. Qualcomm: Small cells will cost less than smartphones
5. AWS, 2.6 GHz to be most common LTE frequencies in Latin America
6. Reality Check: Brazil’s mobile broadband scenario in 2011
7. Nextel launches 3G network in Mexico, covering 34 cities
8. Telefónica to use Alcatel-Lucent femtocells in Europe, South America
9. Brazil suspends some TIM, Oi and Claro sales due to customer complaints
10. Nextel’s 3G plans could limit competitive advantage across Latin America

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Bruno Freitas, supervisor of research at IDC Brazil, said that the market showed a sharp drop in sales of feature phones (those without operating systems) while smartphones continued to grow. According to Freitas, there was a 28.5% drop in the market for conventional devices and 65% growth in smartphone sales compared to the same period last year.

IDC attributed the rise of smartphone sales in the country to vast portfolios of smartphones as well as telecom operators’ efforts to “create a strong movement” to offer this type of device and increase the sale of services such as data plans. Retail is another sector that showed growth in smartphone sales.

Regarding operating systems, devices with Google’s Android accounted for 80% of the sales volume in the third quarter, and IDC pointed out that the trend indicates that this number will keep increasing even more. Freitas noted that by 2014, devices with the Android operating system should surpass feature phones, given the transformation the IT market is undergoing with the explosion of social networks and the migration to mobile devices.

He also said that prices have driven the market. Users who have bought a feature phone in the past now have the option to buy a smartphone with more inviting prices, he added.

According to the study, smartphones priced below $340 (R$700) in the third quarter of 2010 represented 27% of total sales while currently they account for 64%.

By the end of the year, IDC expects that 59 million handsets will have been sold, of which 16 million will be smartphones and 43 million feature phones. This figure is 11% lower than that reported in 2011.

(The currency exchange rate used in this story was $1 USD = R$2.0702)

IGB Eletrônica, which operates under the Gradiente name in Brazil, can sell their handsets under the “Iphone” brand because it is the exclusive holder of the registration rights for that brand in the country.

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“Since Gradiente owns a valid trademark registration in Brazil for the composite mark ‘G Gradiente Iphone,’ the company may launch products in Brazil under such a mark. But they can only use the registered logo and the expression ‘Gradiente Iphone’ as you can see in the trademark registration,” explained Dirceu Santa Rosa, a lawyer specializing in Digital Law.

Gradiente said that in 2000, the company “envisioned that there would be a technological revolution in the world of mobile phones with the convergence of transmission and reception of voice and data through the mobile Internet.” That same year, Gradiente filed for trademark registration with the National Institute of Industrial Property. On Jan. 2, 2008, the federal agency granted Gradiente the registration, and the company now holds exclusive rights for producing and marketing this brand until 2018.

RCR Wireless News contacted officials at the INPI, who confirmed that Gradiente was granted the trademark registration to use the term when referring to cellular telephone apparatus, cellular telephones devices that enable Internet access, for both fixed and mobile telephony, digital antennas, protective cases, batteries, chargers, speakers, and hands-free parts and accessories included in this class.

Apple has some rights to the iPhone trademark in Brazil, including the right to use the word in games, toys, Christmas tree decorations, clothing, headgear and printed materials as well as several other categories.

Apple’s PR team in Brazil did not return RCR Wireless News’ requests for comment by the time of this story.

However, according to Dirceu Santa Rosa, Apple may be able to file a lawsuit in Brazil claiming that its “iPhone” trademark — albeit not registered yet in Brazil for cell phones — has acquired significant “distinctiveness” during the years that the product has been sold in the country. He believes Apple is likely to make such a move against IGB’s Gradiente in the near future.

“Even if Apple can prove that its mark is famous in Brazil, the fact that IGB filed the application in 2000 and has owned this mark since 2008, may be considered by Brazilian Courts as evidence that both marks may be allowed to coexist in the market,” Santa Rosa said.

Gradiente noted that it had not used the Iphone name until now because the company was going through a restructuring process and that was its priority. Gradiente re-entered the mobile phone market this year, following an announcement by the Companhia Brasileira de Tecnologia Digital (CBTD or Brazilian Digital Technology Company), the firm responsible for leasing and managing Gradiente’s marks.

In a statement, Gradiente said that “with its consolidated business model, the company decided it was the ideal time to work with a brand that is appropriate and its rightful property.” 

Gradiente’s first smartphone model on sale under this brand is the Neo One, which runs the Android OS, supports dual-SIM cards, 3G connections, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Gradiente has also set up an application store with about 30,000 download options, according to the company.

Gradiente stated that it is confident in the success of its Iphone line in Brazil, and the manufacturer expects to increase its share of the smartphone market in the country.

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Employees and assets at both locations in Brazil and China will transfer to Flextronics after the transaction closes, according to a statement released by Flextronics.

Mark Randall, senior vice president, supply-chain and operations for Motorola Mobility, said the agreement with Flextronics represents an important step forward in transforming the company’s overall supply chain. Randall said it will be a competitive advantage for Motorola Mobility, as it will enable Motorola to focus on other areas of the supply chain where they think they can add the most value.

The two companies expect to complete closing activities by the first half of 2013, subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals. The financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.