Audiovox sells handset division

[ShoresGuy]

Audiovox sells handset division
Audiovox sells handset division

Audiovox says that it has signed a non-binding letter of intent to sell a controlling interest in the Company's wireless subsidiary, Audiovox Communications to South Korea's Curitel Communications. Currently, Audiovox owns 75% of ACC and Toshiba Corporation owns the remaining interest.

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Philip Christopher, President and CEO of ACC said, "We welcome this interest shown in our company and its management and recognize that partnership with a strong manufacturer, such as Curitel, a major supplier of handsets to ACC, will permit expansion of our product line and render us very competitive."

Strategy Analytics says that it views handset maker Curitel's bid for a controlling interest in Audiovox as a strong positive move for the Korean manufacturer in its quest to establish a much clearer roadmap for its wireless carrier partners. Audiovox has seen its market share fall from 9% in 2000 to less than 3% in 2003, as delays and misaligned feature set configurations sabotaged its ability to carve a profitable niche with its sourced products.

Chris Ambrosio, Director of the Strategy Analytics Wireless Device Service (WDS), states, "Working with Sharp, Toshiba, and Curitel, Audiovox struggled to define its profit target niche through 2002 and 2003. Curitel is likely to consolidate its product line within the Audiovox brand and make a strong value statement to the entry-level market at Verizon. With cameraphone expertise in its domestic Korean market and a willingness to embrace differentiated form factors, Curitel has a clear value statement to the high-end camera phone market. While Audiovox' brand value is flagging in the US with low single-digit brand awareness among end users, a weak brand is better than no brand at all. With this action, Curitel also gains an established entry to Sprint PCS and, if properly positioned in a coordinated sales message, Curitel can take a giant leap forward from where it would be trying to break into the market on its own."

Article

[Tony E!]

Thanks Shoresguy, read that on Phonescoop.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]
We'll see what Curitel does for them, hopefully a better 8000 series line up.

[ShoresGuy]

Lol you can't beat Phonescoop.com at all, he's always fast with posting the news [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]