3.D Risk Factors
Set forth below is a description of factors that may affect our business, results of operations and share price from time to time.
Our sales and profitability depend on the continued growth of the mobile communications industry as well as the growth of the new market segments within that industry in which we have recently invested. If the mobile communications industry does not grow as we expect, or if the new market segments on which we have chosen to focus and in which we have recently invested grow less than expected, or if new faster-growing market segments emerge in which we have not invested, our sales and profitability may be adversely affected.
Our business depends on continued growth in mobile communications in terms of the number of existing mobile subscribers who upgrade or simply replace their existing mobile devices, the number of new subscribers and increased usage. As well, our sales and profitability are affected by the extent to which there is increasing demand for, and development of, value-added services, leading to opportunities for us to successfully market mobile devices that feature these services. These developments in our industry are to a certain extent outside of our control. For example, we are dependent on operators in highly penetrated markets to successfully introduce services that cause a substantial increase in usage of voice and data. Further, in order to support a continued increase in mobile subscribers in certain low-penetration markets, we are dependent on operators to increase their sales volumes of lower-cost mobile devices and to offer affordable tariffs. If operators are not successful in their attempts to increase subscriber numbers, stimulate increased usage or drive replacement sales, our business and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
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Our industry continues to undergo significant changes. First, the mobile communications, information technology, media and consumer electronics industries are converging in some areas into one broader industry leading to the creation of new mobile devices, services and ways to use mobile devices. Second, while participants in the mobile communications industry once provided complete products and solutions, industry players are increasingly providing specific hardware and software layers for products and solutions. As a result of these changes, new market segments within our industry have begun to emerge and we have made significant investments in new business opportunities in certain of these market segments, such as smartphones, imaging, games, music and enterprise mobility infrastructure. However, a number of the new market segments in the mobile communications industry are still in early states of their development, and it may be difficult for us to accurately predict which new market segments are the most advantageous for us to focus on. As a result, if the segments on which we have chosen to focus grow less than expected, we may not receive a return on our investment as soon as we expect, or at all. We may also forego growth opportunities in new market segments of the mobile communications industry on which we do not focus.