Chinese Mobile Phones Hold a Big Chunk of East African Market, But That’s Not a Good Thing
Just yesterday, I wrote about China’s soft-power failures from a regulatory perspective, and today there is more news about soft power failures, albeit of a kind that isn’t really the government’s fault. This excellent Caixin piece describes how Chinese shanzhai (low-cost imitation) mobile phone makers have grabbed a huge chunk of the East African mobile phone market. Chinese phones — nearly all of them counterfeit or off-brand cheap ones — now account for about 50 percent of the phones across East Africa.
つい昨日、中国の規制面におけるソフトパワーの不足について書いたが、今日もまたソフトパワーの不足に関するニュースがある。といっても、政府の責任ではないのだが。この素晴らしいCaixinの記事は、中国のshanzhai（意味：低価格の模造品）携帯電話メーカーが東アフリカのモバイルフォン市場でいかに大きなシェアを握っているかについて書いている。現在、東アフリカに流通している中国の携帯電話は、ほとんどすべてが偽物もしくは無名の安物なのだが、東アフリカ全域の携帯電話市場の約50％を占めている。
ちょうど昨日、私は中国のソフトパワーが規制上の見地からすると失敗したことについて書いたが、今日は実際には政府の失敗ではないにしても、ソフトパワーの失敗に関するさらにたくさんのニュースがある。Caixin(財新)が伝えるこちらの素晴らしい記事では、中国の山寨（廉価な模造品）携帯電話メーカーがどれほど東アフリカの携帯電話市場において莫大なシェアを占めているかについて書かれている。中国の電話は今、東アフリカ全体に出回る携帯電話の約50パーセントを占めているが、そのほとんどすべてが模造品あるいはノーブランドの安いものとなっている。
That might sound like a win for Chinese soft power — Africa embraces Chinese brands! — but it isn’t, because unsurprisingly, Africans aren’t any more excited about poorly-made mobile phones than Chinese people were when these same companies were peddling their wares domestically. From the Caixin article:
These low-cost, sometimes short-lived devices, have shaped the common Kenyan’s impression of “made in China” — too often for the worse. Moreover, some say Chinese wholesalers pouring cheap phones into Kenya have torn a fissure in Sino-Kenyan relations.
これらの低価格で、時にはすぐに壊れてしまう携帯が、ケニア人の「中国製」に対するイメージを作り上げている。それも、悪いイメージの方が多い。さらに、安価な携帯電話をケニアに流し込んでいる中国の卸業者は中国とケニアの関係に亀裂を入れているという人もいる。
これら低コストで、時に寿命の短い端末が「メイドインチャイナ」に対するケニア人の一般的な印象を形作った。あまりにも多くの場合、悪い印象を植え付けることになった。さらに、ある人々によるとケニアへ安い電話を流入させている中国の卸売業者は中国とケニアの関係に亀裂を作り出しているともいう。
I have long felt that Africa might be an ideal market for China’s cheap (but well-made) smartphones; most of them branded Android handsets that run between $100-$300. But it appears that by the time companies like Xiaomi can get their ducks in a row and expand into this market, shanzhai and low-quality handset may have already thoroughly poisoned the well by convincing African consumers that Chinese brands are, in the parlance of our times, cheap crap.
On the other hand, the fact that shanzhai manufacturers are even peddling their wares in Africa to begin with is a sign of maturation in the Chinese mobile phone market, where just a few years ago these same terrible phones were being sold quite widely. Rocky Wang, the sales manager for “Tecno,” one off-brand handset maker doing business in Africa, told Caixin:
We pulled out of our domestic and Asian markets early and made Africa the main focus. A billion consumers [across Africa]. What a vast market!
「当社は早期に中国およびアジア市場から撤退し、アフリカに特化しています。アフリカ全土には10億の消費者がいます。本当に大きな市場です。」
「我々は早い時期に国内とアジア市場から出て行って、アフリカを中心とするようになりました。(アフリカ全体で)10億人の消費者がいます。なんと巨大な市場でしょうか！」
But, of course, China has more than a billion mobile phone consumers, and the rest of Asia probably has a billion more at least. The real reason Tecno and companies of its ilk have pulled out of Asia and moved into Africa is the same reason that traveling snake-oil salesmen moved from town to town: once people figure out your product is crap, the market dries up and you’re forced to move on. Chinese consumers have, in relatively short order, gone from embracing shanzhai phones for their low cost to mostly mocking them while buying respected domestic and international brands instead. The Chinese market for shanzhai phones has shrunk quite dramatically over the past three to five years.
From the sounds of the Caixin article, it seems many Africans are already wising up to the game too, but it’s a shame that these terrible phones have served as the Chinese tech industry’s ambassador to the region. To a certain extent, Africans probably wouldn’t be thrilled about massive phone imports from anywhere regardless of their quality, because that stifles the growth of domestic handset companies. But with that said, I suspect that real Chinese brands that could have succeeded and build some good will in Africa will now have face a very stiff challenge if they decide to move into the region.
It’s said that you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and Chinese shanzhai phone manufacturers have helped assure that Africa’s first impression of Chinese phones is pretty damn bad.
(As an interesting side note, it seems that some Chinese salesmen are quite literally carrying on the tradition of the traveling snake-oil salesman. Called “backpackers,” they move from city to city selling cheap, fake phones and then moving on when interest dries up.)
無名ブランドの「Tecno」を誤って「Tenco」としてしまいました。申し訳ありません。