Unbranded Chinese handset may be wiped out

30 new handset makers beeline in to India

New Delhi, Dec 27 2009

Bhaskar Hazarika

Unbranded Chinese handset likely to face death with the Indian mobile market flooded with more than 30 new handset makers. With 506 million subscribers in the country, the market is attracting entry of new players in the segment. In the present financial year, the market saw the entry of 25 new players.

The Indian handset industry shipped around 130 million units in 2009 and the numbers are likely to escalate to 150 million in 2010. According to industry estimates, the mobile handset market is pegged at Rs 35,000 crore in 2010.

Unlike the dominant handset makers such as Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG, the segment is witnessing entry of new handset brands, which are available at much cheaper costs with added features.

President of Indian Cellular Association, Pankaj Mohindroo said the growth in the mobile subscriber base has attracted the entry of new players in to the market. “There is a lot of space for entry of new players, which will ensure fair competition in it. Compared with the past couple of years the prices of handsets have come down reasonably. The average price of a handset has come down to Rs 2,300 from Rs 5,500 before,” he said.

Mohindroo said that the entry of affordable handsets in the market will hurt the grey market, which is flooded with unbranded Chinese brands. He said that availability of legal IMEI number on these brands is likely to have an impact on the unbranded handsets.

The new entrants into this space include Micromax, Lava Mobiles, Karbonn, Mobell, Videocon, Movil and also some known brands such as Usha, Salora, Onida and Orpat. According to market estimates, the new players have managed to attain 15 per cent market share.

Shashin Devsare, executive director of Jaina Group of Karbonn Mobiles, said, “We are competing in the GSM space, which is 8.5 to 10 million units per month. Affordable multimedia solution and features for subscribers is our business model. We are primarily targeting the tier II and III towns, where we see the next phase of growth.”

TV maker Salora has tied up with a Singapore-based mobile phone manufacturer, Mobell, to market its handsets in the country. Vice chairman and managing director of Salora, Gopal Jiwarajka, is of the view that the handset market will be robust for the next five to 10 years. “We are positioning our product for entry level and the replacement market, targeting the new subscriber base, who is a first time user. Usually the lifecycle of a handset is estimated to be around 18 months and there is a huge percentage of subscribers in the handset replacement category,” he added.

Managing director of LG Electronics, Moon B Shin, said there is space for new layers in the handset space. “The market is not saturated in this space. We have 6 per cent market share and are targeting 10 per cent next year. The market will witness entry of players and the ones that meet customer requirements will stand the competition,” he said.

© Financial Chronicle

Telecom Success: Dummy handset market a promising story

New Delhi, Dec 14 2009

Bhaskar Hazarika

Nothing succeeds like success! Even dummies! With India set to cross over 500 million mobile phones by the end of the year, there is a growing market here for dummy hand set manufacturers. OSM Global, a global dummy handset major, has already logged onto the telecom success story in India.

Industry estimates say that for each mobile handset model launched in the market, dummy handset makers manufacture anything from 20,000 to 1.5 lakh units per model depending upon the popularity of the model. At present, all dummy handset models are imported into the country.

India’s top three-handset manufacturers — Nokia, Samsung and LG — each launch close to 50 new models every year. The dummy handset market is currently dominated by OSM Global, which set up shop in India a couple of years ago. The company has patents for its dummy handset models. Headquartered in Sweden, the company has its R&D centre in Europe and a manufacturing base in China.

A senior executive from OSM Global, who did not wish to be identified, told Financial Chronicle that the company manufactures dummy for most of the major handset brands in the country. He said with the growth of handsets in the country, dummy handset was a “substantial business”. “We work hand-in-hand with many of the handset makers globally to give the dummy a real touch and feel experience for customers,” he said.

There are three types of dummy phones available in the market today. The hollow dummy with the casing and a fixed screen shot; the touch and feel and the latest one is the interactive dummy. The interactive dummy is similar to the handset with music, LCD panel and audio-video features. The cost of each dummy handset ranges from $5 to $15 per model.

“With more and more feature-rich phones launched, the interactive dummies are prevalent. Depending upon the type and target of customers, we manufacture the dummy. On an average each mobile retail store has five units of dummy per model,” he said.

Essar’s Mobile Store has around 1,300 outlets, Spice group’s Hotspot has 600 stores while Nokia has a presence in 1.9 lakh stores.

© Financial Chronicle

Vices of Apple iPhone 3G

9 other reasons not to buy iPhone

Bhaskar Hazarika

New Delhi, Aug 21 2008

Forget the hype over iPhone. On a reality check, here are nine other reasons why it may not be worth buying.

1) Some who have used the contraband iPhone say it is too delicate and not user friendly.

2) Has only a two-megapixel camera without flash or zoom. Cheaper options have better cameras

3) SIM card is locked with Airtel or Vodafone for life. You are stuck with it even if their services are unsatisfactory.

4) India is still on 2G, and the handset sold is 3G. So data download on internet will be at a dead pace.

5) Touch-screen can be problematic if you are a messaging maniac. Mind you, there is only a virtual keyboard which is difficult to use.

6) Doesn’t allow “bluejacking”. So no downloading of songs “bluetoothed” from other handsets. Bluetooth links work only with other iPhones.

7) Apple forgot to include the cut- and- paste application. Wonder how it skipped this feature.

8) For all MMS practitioners, iPhone is a no go. It will not allow you to have this pleasure.

9) Battery replacement is a pain. You have to send it over to an Apple service centre for to get it replaced.

© Financial Chronicle