Micromax, Karbonn, Olive, Lava

How many mobile phone companies do you know of? Nokia is the first name you will take but will certainly acknowledge the fact that there has been a sudden flooding of the market with atleast a dozen phone companies coming in. The best newcomers being Micromax, Lava, Karbonn, Olive, Videocon, fly etc.Further to my earlier blog where I talked about Vodafone coming out with the cheapest mobile phone, this post attempts to understand the growing mobile market in India better.

I guess this is the right strategy taken up by the upcoming Indian mobile companies, as we were getting bogged down by the heavy price of high end phones marketed by RIM (Blackberry) , Nokia and Samsung. The market has started getting the feeling that even if the mobile prices were getting down, the phone that you always wanted to have or atleast with a set of features (wifi, 3G, GPRS, bluetooth) has at all times been above Rs. 20,000! This was never good for the Indian market. If you need to be the market leader price it well. This works in any industry in India especially.

3 very important features that any mobile should have in order to survive in India –

1. Pick up proper signal

2. Have an outstanding battery life.

3. It should have a radio

Next 4 features like

1. 3G,

2. Bluetooth,

3. GPRS and

4. wifi connectivity

are a must for high end phones. But the problem is at pricing, can a mobile company provide all of his at less than Rs.10K, if so then it will be a big hit. Micromax has already become one of the most selling handsets in India; in March 2010 it alone sold a whopping 1 million handsets! Nokia sold 50 million handsets in the entire year 2009.

India is driven by price, in any field. Take the example of McDonalds. When they launched their first store in Delhi they were not a big hit instantly even when they had a big brand name and had been doing enough marketing, it was the perception that the place is expensive. Once they started their Rs.7 softee then only the footfall started, then the story is known to all – it’s the best fast food joint in India. Indians need economical pricing in all the products. If you need to be a big hit you will have to target the middle class by providing the best price with the best features. 

Looks like the new comers in the mobile market are doing just that. The Q5 phone from Micromax has all the features of a blackberry except wifi and 3G at a price of Rs. 4K, may go down further in each passing month! Same is the case with the Lava A9 phone at a price of around Rs.5K. All these phones starts from Rs.1500 and almost all have the dual sim option. I wonder if the stage has come for all of us to have 2 mobile numbers.

But the bigger question is – is it fair to assume that the new comers will jolt the bigger sharks in the market? Do you think the world leaders like RIM, Nokia, Samsung will lose bigger chunk of their market?

My guess is that it may not happen as the high end market will never get captured by the new comers as for a person who wants to own only an iphone or a blackberry bold in his hand; he will never buy a Micromax, however stylish it is made! Since the day Nexus one was announced by Google, I am dying to buy one, provided it’s made available in India! I already have a HTC but would not mind going on to another HTC as I have seen enough reviews of Nexus One!!

But I still feel that the new mobile companies are here to stay and they will snatch enough market from the biggies.