Xelibri A Siemens mobile adventure
Xelibri: A Siemens Mobile Adventure Summary: Xelibri, the fifth segment of Siemens mobile phones, is created in 2003 as a new business unit trying to tap the terminals market and to boost the sales of the company for recovering market share and brand. An interesting approach is selected, to redefine the whole industry of mobile terminals into a fashionable product line, something that Nokia introduced just a year ago and that Swatch (the fashionable watch manufacturer) did with its products lines as well. ... This posed a big challenge that if become true could propel Siemens mobile to higher levels of profitability and bigger market share. ... Nokia was a pioneer in using the appeal of fashion to market mobile phones. ... Here, Xelibri will have to face to first barrier to entry: pricing high the new fashionable terminals to the young segment will deter teenagers to buy them, so could be reasonable to consider this segment as early majority and develop line products targeted to them later on, or let the segment untapped until the maturity phase. ... With this caveat in mind, and given that Xelibri is not going to include revolutionary ‘Functionality’ or ‘Form’ in its product line, there are just one major aspect that can make those terminals more fashionable: external design. ... Given also that in many European countries the handset market is in its maturity state by one hand, and by the other that many mobile operators are struggling for growing ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) with the consequently elimination of terminal subsidies, it seems to be reasonable to say that Xelibri should use alternative sales channels that would not erode margin sales, that is using direct sales channels through wholesalers or even direct Internet.