Alcatel’s sponsorship of the South Sydney Rabbitohs is a key component of its involvement with sport and youth community events. In 2019, you can expect to see the company’s logo front and centre a little more as it takes on major sponsorship of the club’s away jersey.
The sponsorship announcement was made at an end of year function hosted for local media, during which Sam Skontos, VP and Regional Managing Director, South East Asia & Pacific for Alcatel took to the stage to discuss just how the company performed in 2018.
Alcatel’s 2018
A success story is often good one, and Alcatel’s is particularly impressive. The company that exited the market and had an uphill battle on its hands to claw back market share upon return, and that’s paid off in 2018 with sales and revenue almost doubling year-on-year. Across 20 products in market over the course of the year, Alcatel’s shipped just shy of 1 million units. It’s made them the #3 phone manufacturer in the country, and we all now who holds those #1 and #2 positions.
2018 also saw Alcatel move a little out of its established niche, wth major upgrades to the design, construction and features of its phones keeping pace with higher-end market trends like moving to 18:9 displays and use of fingerprint readers for security. It’s a strategy that assists to have paid off.
Alcatel benefits greatly from its parent company – TCL, a Chinese appliance manufacturer that we’re most familiar with in these parts for their Android TVs – as they are able to leverage TCL’s manufacturing prowess for their screens and skirt around market supply issues, making the next tease notable.
In a market that’s just starting to bring devices with the technology to bear, Alcatel’s teasing a foldable display in the company’s future. This was mentioned in the same breath as the company’s vision to keep their phones under $500.
A foldable screen at a $500 price point? Alcatel, you have our attention.
The Palm of the Hand
We also got a sneak peek at a product coming to our market in 2019, when it became apparent that a TCL executive in attendance was using one of the new Palm phones, relaunched as a brand under TCL alongside Alcatel and Blackberry.
That sent the tech media in attendance into a bit of a tizzy as we all descended on the executive, who happily handed his phone over (unlocked!) for us to poke, prod and photograph.
The Palm phone is a tiny, tiny device. While it seems likely to be pitched as a lightweight secondary device that you’d take out on a run or to the beach, it can function as a phone on its own and runs full Android (it even has face unlock features).
We’re looking forward to getting our hands (or hand – it’s so small I don’t know if you can legitimately put two hands on it) on the phone as it comes to our market in 2019.
South Sydney Rabbitohs Sponsorship
The major announcement for the night, though, was Alcatel’s deepening of its ties with the Rabbitohs, which dates back some 8 years. In 2019, the Rabbitohs’ jerseys worn at away games will adopt something of a throwback design to a classic look, and Alcatel’s logo will feature front and centre with parent TCL’s logo also present on the back.
Alcatel’s involvement with the Rabbitohs also runs to a social responsibility end, wth the company calling out Souths Cares, the club’s youth and indigenous community program, during the announcement.
2018 has clearly been a big year for Alcatel, and we’ll be keeping a keen eye on their developing technology and products in 2019.
