Samsung phones sell well in Q4

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LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - U.S. telephone carrier customers of Samsung Electronics saw slowing sales of cell phones towards the end of the 2007 holiday shopping period, which was a strong sales period for Samsung, a top executive for the phone maker said on Sunday.

By Sinead Carew

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - U.S. telephone carrier customers of Samsung Electronics saw slowing sales of cell phones towards the end of the 2007 holiday shopping period, which was a strong sales period for Samsung, a top executive for the phone maker said on Sunday.

Bill Ogle, chief marketing officer for Samsung Telecommunications America, said it was not clear if the slowing sales related to the timing of customer contract expirations or for other reasons such as economic concerns.

"We know our carriers have said that toward the end of the selling season business was slowing for them in terms of phones sold," Ogle said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show here.

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"We had a stronger fourth quarter than we had in the prior year," in terms of phone unit sales volumes, he said, adding that while it was clear the lower-end phones were "flying off the shelves" the company was still waiting for data on higher-end phones that went on sale later in the quarter.

Ogle did not give specific numbers for the company's U.S. sales volume. He said the company does not typically reveal volume sales by region.

Samsung's U.S. carrier customers include AT&T Inc, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel. Verizon Wireless is owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc.

Samsung, the third biggest mobile phone maker in the world, said it trailed only Motorola Inc in the United States as of the end of third quarter last year. Global market leader Nokia has had a tougher time in the United States.

These companies all face competition from iPhone, Apple Inc's

first phone, which went on sale here in June.

Ogle said that even if it turns out that consumers are tightening their belts on cell phone spending Samsung is still in a good position to maintain sales whether consumers opt for cheaper or more advanced cell phones.

"We had phones in all segments so that if people were trading up or down we had products they could chose," he said.

Ogle said that lower end phones such as the M300 being sold at carriers including Sprint, and the Juke fashion music phone sold by Verizon, did very well in the fourth quarter.

But he said it was too soon to comment on demand for the Blackjack 2, a higher-end Samsung phone being sold at AT&T, because this product went on sale later in the quarter.

"It did very well but it was just getting out on the market at the holiday season," said Ogle, adding that he was still waiting for carrier data on the Blackjack, a phone with a miniature computer keyboard.

In the U.S. market where about 87 percent of people already have cell phones Muzib Khan, vice president of product management for Samsung's telecom business here, said the company would work on boosting future sales by improving its music phones and better addressing underserved markets.

"There will be more functionality so people can more easily transfer music, download music and play back music," on their phones, said Khan, envisioning music phones that are "more easy to use and more pleasant to listen to with a higher audio quality" and a easier user interface.

Khan declined to give further details on upcoming products but also hinted that Samsung could develop more phones that appeal to very young or old customers.

"There are other segments of the market that have not been approached, for example markets like seniors, like younger kids," he said.

Khan said that in the United States alone the company had brought out about 60 new phone models in 2007 and would bring out a similar number of models here in 2008. Samsung said it did not unveil any new phones at CES this year.

(For more from the Consumer Electronics Show, please visit the

MediaFile blog: http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/ )

(Editing by Phil Berlowitz)