Vestel probably isn't a brand many of you will be familiar with, but speaking at the IFA Global Press Conference in its native Turkey, CEO Turan Erdogan, delivered some candid reasonings behind his company's expansion into smartphones for the first time. In short, they can't afford not to be in that market anymore.
Vestel is actually a large operation with a large market share in the TV sector. In Europe it comes only second to Samsung, and makes TVs under license for many other brand names. But the message delivered by Erdogan was pretty clear. If you're not in mobile and you're not in the connected space, you're dead in the water.
It's not often you'll hear a CEO of a major consumer electronics manufacturer speak in this way, but it's also an eye opener. We'll not likely be seeing much of Vestel's smartphones in the U.S. and even many markets in Europe, but they'll be on the market beginning this August and will feature in Vestel's usually large presence at IFA in Berlin this coming September.
