CTIA Fall 2005
UTStarcom Personal Communications is very much a company in transition. The most obvious transition is the phasing out of the Audiovox brand, now that UTStarcom's acquisition of the old Audiovox Communications is complete. But there is more going on behind the scenes that many people don't know about.
First, a quick history review: Audiovox never actually manufactured any phones themselves. Instead, they operated by acting as a sort of US sales and branding team for Asian companies without a real US presence in the phone industry. They had several lineups, including the 8000 series, made by Pantech & Curitel (formerly Hyundai), and the 9000 series made by Toshiba. Audiovox was also involved with a few random Sharp and HTC devices from time to time.
A couple of years ago, Toshiba seemed to fall out of favor with US carriers. So Audiovox turned to another Asian company: KTFT. And now (as UTStarcom) the company is starting to show off the fruits of their new relationship with KTFT, in the form of a new 9000 series, starting with the 9200 and 9945.
Unlike the old Audiovox parent company, UTStarcom is actually a mobile phone manufacturer. They didn't used to make CDMA phones for the US, but they are now getting into that area, in the form of their new 7000 series phones. The first is the ultra-basic 7000, which will be offered by Sprint very soon. Since they're new at this game, they're wisely starting with entry-level phones first, with plans to expand the lineup to higher-end phones as time goes on.
But UTStarcom being a manufacturer is a problem for Pantech & Curitel, who has major global ambitions of their own. So instead of selling phones via a competitor, P&C is severing ties with UTStarcom and intends to make a go of it on their own. That basically means the end of UTStarcom's 8000 series.
That will leave just the UTStarcom-made 7000 series, and the new 9000 series from KTFT (to fill in the gaps where UTStarcom themselves isn't ready to go just yet). We can expect assorted HTC devices to be handled by UTStarcom as well, although those usually end up carrier-branded, like the new Sprint PPC-6700.
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