More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
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| https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prAP51917724 |
According to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, the Philippines’ tablet market declined 39.8% to just over 750,000 units in 2023.
“Tablet shipments dropped to pre-pandemic levels after averaging over a million units per year between 2020 to 2023. This was the lowest annual shipment recorded since 2012,” said Angela Medez, Senior Market Analyst at IDC Philippines.
Multiple launches across vendors drove 4Q23 to grow sequentially by 35.1% with Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab A9 & S9 FE series alone accounting for almost 40% of the quarter’s 218,000 shipments.
With shifting priorities among government agencies over procurement of tablets for educational purposes, IDC anticipates commercial tablet shipments to contract in 2024. Until tablets can differentiate themselves from smartphones and PCs through innovation and unique positioning, they may not be consumers’ top choice for electronic purchases.
It seems tablets are not so popular amongst Filipinos. However cell phones are.
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| https://www.philstar.com/business/2024/03/03/2337580/phone-purchases-pick-post-covid |
As the economy bounces back from the pandemic, Filipinos are starting to invest in new phones again, and they are mostly purchasing Chinese brands priced below $200.
According to the mobile phone tracker of International Data Corp. (IDC), the Philippines logged in a 3.8 percent hike in smartphone imports to 16.9 million units last year.
In the fourth quarter alone, over 80 percent of the 5.6 million shipments were in the $200 and under price band.
As such, the country snapped a two-year decline in phone shipments during the pandemic, when the lockdowns dried up the savings of Filipinos, cutting their budgets for several items.
IDC said brands from China made up four in five of these units purchased by Filipinos. Transsion – the maker of low-cost phones Infinix, itel and Tecno – took the top spot, growing 98.3 percent annually and accounting for over one-third of total shipments in 2023 as the company reached a new high with all three sub-brands positioned in the ultra low-end segment. Tecno, in particular, started to move upward with the introduction of its Phantom series in 2023, the company’s first smartphone at a over $500 price point.
On the other hand, other vendors slowed, with Realme registering the biggest annual decline of 27.6 percent, dropping to second spot as vendors struggled to compete in the $200 segment.
Realme made up 15.9 percent of the market, while OPPO placed third with 12.2 percent. Likewise, Chinese brand Vivo grabbed a share of 11.3 percent, while Xiaomi rounded up the list with 9.8 percent.
Notably, the largest phone manufacturers – Apple and Samsung – failed to make it to the top five list of the most preferred brands of Filipinos.
Medez said around 80 percent of the phone shipments in the fourth quarter of 2023 were sold at less than $200, encouraging Filipinos to spend part of the Christmas bonuses on a new unit. IDC expects the Philippine demand to be sustained in 2024.
“The market made a strong comeback toward the end of 2023, driven by year-end holiday festivities and Transsion’s new product lineup, propelling the $100 price segment to more than double both quarterly and annually,” she said.
IDC believes that local demand for phones will be bolstered by the continuous decline in inflation and the resurgence of consumer spending in the pandemic aftermath.
“The IDC has raised forecast for 2024 given the high performance in [the fourth quarter of 2023] and optimistic economic outlook, as inflation continues to decline and private spending grows,” Medez said.
Filipinos prefer cheap Chinese cell phones.
After four years the University of the Philippines (UP) - Cebu Campus Tatak award has returned.
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| https://www.sunstar.com.ph/amp/story/cebu/tatak-up-awards-returns |
AFTER a four-year hiatus, the search for an outstanding alumnus of the University of the Philippines (UP) - Cebu Campus returns.
On its fifth installment, a new batch of “Tatak UP” awardees will be recognized this May 3, 2024. The award ceremony was supposed to be held in 2020 but was postponed due to the global health pandemic.
Jeruel Roa, president of the UP Alumni Association Cebu Chapter (UPACC), urged fellow UP alumni, students, faculties, administrations and even outsiders to nominate UP individuals with outstanding contribution to the community to be recognized.
The awarding will be held in line with the celebration of the 106th founding anniversary of UP Cebu. Roa said the nomination and acceptance for potential outstanding awardees was extended to March 15, 2024.
Instead of being limited to alumni of any UP system, Roa said the UPACC has expanded the scope of recognition to include anyone who has studied at least one semester in any UP degree-granting institution and is in good academic standing.
They must also not have received awards or recognition from other UP institutions or any award-giving bodies in UP.
He explained that this change is intended for individuals who have already outstanding recognition in the community but were not nominated or recognized by the UP institution.
Since its inception in 2011, “Tatak UP” has recognized 93 UP alumni, he added.
This seems like something that could have been reinstated sooner.
Filipino companies which invested in COVID-19 care products are diversifying as the threat has diminished.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2024/3/3/companies-shift-focus-as-covid-19-threat-diminishes |
As the threat of Covid-19 has already been significantly reduced in the country, some companies which earlier invested in point-of-care and home test kits, have started shifting its operations to other business lines.
In the case of the local company MOHS, it pivoted its business ventures to businesses include products and services in retail, dermatology and medical services, technology services, distribution and logistics.
“We knew as early as 2022 that we needed to pivot to non-COVID products with the pandemic winding down. We aggressively moved into new lines, particularly health care and dermatology, as we know these businesses well, and sought the vertical integration of our operations through strategic acquisitions in distribution and logistics and technology services,” said MOHS chief executive officer Michael B. Hortaleza.
“These new businesses remain true to MOHS’s DNA of engaging in businesses that add value to Philippine society. Our COVID diagnostics and consumables business and home-based test kits certainly helped ease the physiological and financial burden that the pandemic brought to many patients,” he added.
While the COVID-19 business amounted for 100 percent of sales in 2021 and 2022, non-COVID sales accounted for 40 percent of MOHS business in 2023 and is projected to increase to 99 percent in 2024.
In 2023, even with COVID-19 cases rapidly declining, MOHS’s revenues grew by 24 percent.
The group’s chief finance officer, Kenji M. Asano Jr., says, “MOHS’s timely pivot beyond its COVID-19 business, under the strategic direction of CEO Hortaleza, positions MOHS for rapid and sustained growth in 2024 and beyond. MOHS’s new product and services mix is poised to meet the exciting challenges of the post-pandemic era.”
Diversifying into other business lines with established brands and aggressive competitors meant that the playing field was going to be tougher and in the case of the MOHS, some of its business ventures include dermatology clinics—the Arkana neurocosmetics and Swiss Image skin care products, and Scatter scalp micropigmentation technology for hair loss and bald spots.
These companies have been shifting focus to non-COVID products since 2022.
The amusement tax for Filipino films has been waived for three years to help the film industry recovery from the effects of the pandemic.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1219841 |
The Metro Manila Council (MMC) has waived the 10 percent amusement tax for the screenings of all local films in the National Capital Region (NCR) for the next three years to help support and promote the Filipino film industry.
In a statement on Thursday, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) acting chair and Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) overall concurrent chair Don Artes said the amusement tax “adds a financial burden to local film producers, potentially affecting the sustainability of the Filipino film industry.”
In response, the MMC passed a resolution to waive the tax, which will be adopted by each local government unit in Metro Manila.
“In support of the resolution, they will amend their respective local revenue codes to waive the amusement tax for Filipino movies exhibited in Metro Manila from Jan. 8 to Dec. 24 of every year for the next three years,” Artes said.
During an MMC meeting on Wednesday, film director Jose Javier Reyes, representing the Film Development Council of the Philippines, said the current state of the Filipino film industry is “dismal” and has declined significantly.
Reyes cited the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, streaming platforms, piracy, and heavy taxation as some of the biggest hurdles being faced by the film sector.
“A producer needs to pay three types of taxes for each film, including 10 percent amusement taxes together with other taxes, such as value-added tax and income tax, making us the most heavily taxed movie industry in the world,” he said.
The DILG says this will be a big help to the film industry.
The OCBC Cycle has returned to Singapore for the first time since the pandemic.
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| https://sg.news.yahoo.com/ocbc-cycle-2024-sea-championship-returns-first-since-covid-the-foldie-ride-makes-debut-093935038.html |
This year's OCBC Cycle will see the Speedway SEA Championship return for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, with nine teams from Southeast Asia competing at the annual mass cycling event on 11 and 12 May.
Meanwhile, a new category - The Foldie Ride by Brompton (40km) - will make its debut to cater to the expanding base of cyclists who ride foldable bikes.
OCBC Cycle announced these additions as it kicked off registrations on Tuesday (5 March) at orchardgateway. Organisers expect more than 7,000 cyclists to participate across 10 categories, with 1,000 cyclists taking part in The Foldie Ride by Brompton. The evergreen rides - The Sportive Ride (40km) and The Straits Times Ride (20km) - will feature again in this year’s event.
Teams from Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Indonesia will be competing at the Speedway SEA Championship this year. Philippines took the crown in the last edition back in 2019, with Malaysia and Vietnam finishing second and third respectively.
Of course the Philippines is sending a team to compete.
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