“We signed the first partnerships with sub-dealers of operator Mtel and will sign an agreement with Vivacom this week. We also signed with retailer GSM Handy. We plan to expand in Bulgaria and do the same thing in most Eastern European countries,” Niscov said.
The company, currently attending Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where it can be found at the Economy Ministry-sponsored stall, is looking for new partners during this event, its sales manager said. It will also launch a new product during the fair.
Allview sold 48,000 tablets and 18,000 smartphones last year. The local smartphone market stood at one million units as estimated by Samsung.
The tablet market amounted to 200,000 units in Romania in 2012, higher than the 160,000 to 170,000 units initially estimated, said Alin Niscov.
“The market will increase to at least 300,000 units this year.”
Whereas fewer than 10% of the tablets Allview sold last year were 3G enabled, the number will go up in 2013, Niscov believes.
“Sales of Wi-Fi only tablets will go down to 70-75% of our total sales, as cellular operators’ offers will stimulate demand for such devices.”
Allview sells several tablets running Google Android, at prices starting from less than EUR100 and going to as much as EUR300.
About 40% of the tablets sold in Romania last year were in the EUR100-EUR150 price range, Allview data show.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)