“As a growing provider of retail financial services, Lasco
Financial Services is aware of the changes and emerging trends in global mobile
payments. In the near future, we envision consumers will be able to use mobile
devices to conduct more everyday financial transactions through the use of
mobile devices”
Managing Director of
Lasco Financial Services Limited, Jacinth Hall-Tracey, speaking about LASF
partnership with Huawei to sell unlocked smartphones and accessories
Partnerships are one of the best way to do business in
Jamaicans. You leverage the strength of those involved in the partnership to
help you to make progress in a difficult bear market.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise that Lasco has teamed up
with Huawei to sell mobile smartphones as reported in the article “Lasco
Financial Enters Phone Business”, Published Friday September 25, 2015 by
Camilo Thame, The Jamaica Gleaner.
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LASF (Lasco Financial Services Limited) had now being
authorize to distribute Huawei products and device in Jamaica. The partnership
will result in them selling unlocked Huawei smartphones and original parts and
accessories at their select locations across the island.
They'll also be selling dual-SIM smartphones, something
that’s' sure to stir up the Telecom Provider stranglehold on the market, as
they currently don't sell such handsets, to quote Managing Director of Lasco
Financial Services Limited, Jacinth Hall-Tracey: “Customers will be able to purchase
affordably priced Huawei devices such as dual-SIM handsets, smartwatches, phone
cases, etc”.
Already eight (8) of Lasco's cambios, which offer MoneyGram
remittance services as well as loans, will be acting as test-run guinea pigs,
selling these unlocked Huawei smartphones and original Huawei accessories.
Basically, Huawei is cutting out the middleman, the local Telecom Providers and
selling their handsets directly to Jamaicans.
LASF has been a strong performer for the Lasco Group of
companies, contributing some 70% to the company's overall income. Remittances
are on a roll, with revenue from LASF increasing 50% for financial year ending
March 2015.
Already in 2015, they're steamrolling to another record year
of profits, with the Second Quarter of 2015 already seeing LASF clocking some
JA$192 million which represent an 8% increase when compared to the same period
in 2014.
So this investment is just to broaden their profit base in
the very competitive but rapidly growing area of unlocked smartphones and
original accessories for Huawei, to quote Jacinth Hall-Tracey: “The telecoms
retail industry is certainly competitive. However, we believe that the market
for smart mobile devices and accessories will continue to increase in Jamaica,
and Lasco Financial Services will employ the strategies necessary to become a
leading provider is this market”.
But why is Huawei now going into the sale of unlocked
smartphones directly to customers?
Huawei and Lasco
to sell smartphones - Why Huawei sees Number Portability as an opportunity to
sell unlocked smartphone
Not only is this a first for Lasco, but it follows on in the
footsteps of competitor Samsung who also sell their smartphones and accessories
directly to customer at their Samsung Experience Stores in Half-Way-Tree and
Montego Bay.
In fact, the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus
has already launched in Jamaica and is being sold in this manner as reported in
my Geezam blog article entitled “How
Next is Now for launch of Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus in Jamaica”.
Huawei isn't responding to Samsung's direct sale of their
Samsung product to customers, as most of Samsung product and accessories at
their flagship stores are overpriced. Rather this move is really to cut out the
Telecom Provider as the middleman by selling unlocked smartphones at cheaper
prices directly to customers.
There is now a strong demand for unlocked smartphones ever
since MNP (Mobile Number Portability) became a reality on Monday June 22nd
2015 as reported in my blog article
entitled “Number
Portability now possible in Jamaica - How the NPA creates efficient Number
Range Management as Third Telecom Provider Coming”.
Number Portability should have seen both Telecom Provider
Digicel and FLOW (formerly LIME) selling unlocked smartphones as I'd predicted
in my blog
article entitled “MNP
and LNP delayed to Monday June 22nd 2015 - Technical Problem is Customer
Knowledge, Misdmatched Demographics and no Unlocked Quad-Band smartphones”.
Instead, the Telecom Providers have stubbornly refused to
make their smartphones unlocked.
Huawei, seeing an opportunity to secure the smartphone
market, has decided that a partnership with LASF to sell unlocked smartphones
and accessories directly to customer was a huge opportunity waiting to be
exploited.
Digicel and FLOW
Jamaica not selling unlocked Dual-SIM smartphones - Market is open for Huawei
and LASF
Sales of smartphones have been relatively quiet since the
DL750, DL800 and DL900 burst on the scene in the Fourth Quarter of 2014 as
reported in my blog
article entitled “JA$6,950
DL750 and JA$8,250 DL800 on Sale at Digicel – Alcatel One Touch Pop C1 as ZTE
Force Awakens and Alcatel’s Empire Strikes Back”.
Both Telecom Providers have been selling handsets costing
JA$5000 at a fairly brisk pace:
1. JA$1.2
billion (US$10.2 million) in sales in March 2014 for FLOW Jamaica
2. JA$1.9
billion (US$16 million) in sales in March 2015 for FLOW Jamaica
3. JA$14.2
billion (US$120 million) in sales in March 2013 for Digicel Jamaica
4. JA$16.7
billion (US$141 million) in sales in March 2015 for Digicel Jamaica
Digicel's sales have actually seen a decline by US$8 million
in the Second Quarter of 2015 to US$26 million when compared to the Second
Quarter of 2014 due to declining handset sales in El Salvador and Papua New
Guinea.
Good to note that these sales include non-feature phones and
feature phones e.g. Nokia 1208 cellphones. So these figures are inflated and
aren’t mentioning smartphones and whether they’re unlocked or Dual-SIM.
To their credit, Digicel did sell a Dual-SIM smartphone
albeit locked smartphone the Acer Liquid E700 as reported in my Geezam blog article entitled “Digicel
going Triple-SIM with Acer Liquid E700 smartphone”.
Also, the Alcatel OneTouch Pop C2 has a dual-SIM version
that Digicel can sell in Jamaica, if they so choose to counteract this move by
Huawei and LASF as hinted in my Geezam blog
article entitled “Why
the Alcatel OneTouch Pop C2 will start the Dual-SIM revolution”
So LASF and Huawei are partnering to conquer the as-yet
untapped Dual-SIM and unlocked smartphone market, which is in need of low-cost
options to the current competitors such as BLU Mobile. In the process, they may
potentially force Telecom Provider Digicel and LIME to start selling unlocked
smartphone as well come Christmas 2015.
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