The Helio Handset Vendor Curse
A few months ago, South Korean handset vendor VK went bankrupt, and now comes word that Pantech has gone bust, too. Is there a curse on Helio’s handset vendors? Helio recently announced it would begin selling its Drift model, made by Samsung — so keep an eye on that Korean giant. But unless something goes really wrong with RIM’s silly trademark lawsuit, it’s pretty unlikely Samsung will follow the two smaller companies. Their plight does show how things are getting awfully difficult for small handset vendors without decent scale, though, as they struggle to survive on margins thinner than their handsets.
