Mobile phone retailers have warned that there could be a shortage of camera phones in the lead-up to Christmas due to exceptionally high festive sales.
Carphone Warehouse said yesterday that it expected overall mobile phone sales in the Irish market during the key Christmas quarter to exceed 320,000, an increase on the 250,000 handsets sold in the same period last year.
Mr Stephen Mackarel, Carphone Warehouse's Irish managing director, said mobiles with inbuilt cameras were selling particularly well. He said anyone planning to buy one of these models should get one now as shortages on some models would emerge closer to Christmas.
The sales boom has surprised mobile operators, some of whom may not have ordered enough handsets for the Christmas period. Handset manufacturers such as Motorola and Siemens admitted this week they were struggling to keep up with demand because critical components, such as colour screens and miniature cameras, for the handsets were already in short supply.
Siemens chief executive, Mr Heinrich von Pierer, said supplies of camera phones from his firm had practically sold out. "We didn't expect \ would be so strong," he said in an interview this week.
And on Thursday, Motorola, the world's second-biggest mobile maker, admitted that parts shortages were slowing down its deliveries of camera phones. "Unit volumes...are lower than our customers are asking for, due to supply constraints for the integrated camera components," said Mr Tom Lynch, head of Motorola's mobile phone business. "We are doing everything possible to accelerate the supply of camera components."
In Ireland, Carphone Warehouse said yesterday stocks of certain popular models, such as the Motorola V525 and O2 new X1 camera phone, were already low.
An O2 spokeswoman said demand for the X1 was very heavy but said it should have enough stock to cope. But she said stocks of certain other models such as the Siemens MC60 handset could sell out.
A Vodafone spokeswoman also said there were some supply issues in the Irish market for certain handsets. But she said the firm should be able to substitute other camera phone models for those handsets that sell out.
The strong demand for camera phones this Christmas was being fuelled by cheaper prices and the fact that it took a while for the handsets to establish themselves, said Mr Andrew Kelly, director of Communications at Meteor.
"Camera phones are a fashion icon and a new fad," he said. "We have been surprised by the demand for the handsets...and there may be shortages of some models in the weeks ahead."
The supply problems for camera phones is an international problem. Largan Precision, Taiwan's largest maker of lenses for the phones, said the shortages would continue into next year. - (Additional reporting, Reuters)
