Nokia, Samsung see low-end cellphone threat from Indian OEMs

On 02.10.11, In Mobile, By Editor

­A recent survey has revealed that Nokia enjoys dominant market share in India, but a majority of low income Indian mobile users would prefer their next phone to be made in India. Indian brands – such as Lava, Micromax, and Spice – will benefit from this preference.

As per the survey, international brands that do not enjoy Nokia’s brand equity- vendors such as  Samsung, LG, and Sony Ericsson may have difficulties in the low-end handset market.

The Indian brands have only been on the market for a few years, and have gained a modest market share. However, 63% of the respondents who primarily live in rural villages and secondary cities with average monthly household income of about $130 say they would prefer their next phone to be manufactured in India citing the reasons as:

* Lower cost and greater value for money
* Greater ease of repair and availability of parts.

According to sources, national pride is a factor, but when people spend almost 4% of their annual income on a mobile phone, they are going to make purchase decisions based on what will get them the most for their money.

Researcher projects that the bulk of new mobile users in India over the next five years will be the low income consumers, particularly in rural areas. Affordable mobile phones with an appealing set of features will be the key to success in this market.

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IDC, GfK provides data for differing handset

On 01.06.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Mobile handset sales data from the two tracking agencies in the country— IDC and GfK-Nielsen have revealed that drastic differences in market share and ranking of companies such as Nokia, Samsung and LG with variations of up to 15% in some cases, prompting the industry to question the credibility of the numbers.

Both agencies rank Nokia as the undisputed leader, but estimate a completely different market share for the Finnish handset maker. While IDC stated that Nokia had a 31.5% share in the September quarter last year, GfK-Nielsen estimates it to be significantly higher at 44.8%.

According to estimates of the Indian Cellular Association and IDC, with annual sales of 150 million handsets in India, the difference would amount to nearly 20 million instruments for Nokia alone. The rankings after the top slot vary wildly. IDC data reveals that Chinese handset maker G’Five has stolen the second position from Samsung in the September quarter with a 10.6% market share while GfK-Nielsen ranks it fifth with a small share of 3.6%, trailing even LG and Micromax.

Handset makers such as Nokia, Samsung and Micromax happily agree with the estimates of the agency that rates them better and question the findings of the other.

Samsung’s country head for mobile & IT, Ranjit Yadav, slammed IDC stating the Korean major continues to be a strong number two after Nokia in India. They will challenge the IDC data.

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No more ‘Bling’ in Micromax (India)

On 10.30.10, In Mobile, By Editor

The Delhi High Court has restrained India’s second-largest mobile phone brand Micromax from selling or advertising one of its largest-selling women-oriented mobile phones ‘Bling’ as it acceded to a trademark violation filed by Delhi-based mobile phone maker Bling Telecom.

As per reports  the court restrained Micromax, including its employees, agents, representatives, or anyone acting on their behalf, from using the trademark ‘Bling’ or any other name confusingly similar till the next date of hearing, February 8, 2011.

The court order, dated October 19, restrains the company from displaying the Bling ads on TV and print.

According to Bling Telecom chairman Rajiv Khanna, the company had filed for the trademark in July 2009 and has since introduced six models under the brand name. The company is the prior users of the trademark ‘Bling’ in relation to telecom goods such as mobile phones, and the use of the mark Bling by Micromax for mobile phones are without the company’s consent. Bling Telecom also sells mobile phones under the brand name Movil in India.

In contrast, Micromax has become the second-largest mobile phone seller in India after Nokia in two-and-a-half years of the company’s advent in the US$6510.99 million Indian handset market.

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Mobile handsets shipment boosts by 6.3% (India)

On 10.05.10, In Mobile, By Editor

As per the new market study, shipments of mobile handsets in India raise by 6.3% quarter-on-quarter to touch an all-time high of 38.63 million units in a single quarter.

According to market intelligence and advisory firm, IDC’s India Quarterly Mobile Handsets Tracker, 2Q 2010, September 2010 release, Dual- and Triple-SIM card slot phones have grown to achieve as much as 38.5% of the total Indian Mobile Handset shipments, from less than 1% in 2Q 2009 (April-June 2009 quarter).

According to Naveen Mishra, Lead Telecoms Analyst, IDC India, the Indian mobile market saw a unique trend of multi SIM phones capturing 38.5% of the total market. This could be attributed to several new service providers responding with highly competitive tariff plans to a price sensitive mobile telephony user market.

This flood of new brands caused a gush in overall market and saw emerging vendors corner as much as 33.2% of total India mobile handset shipments in 2Q 2010. Nokia retained its number one spot with a market share of 36.3% in terms of units shipped, Samsung was set at 2nd position, while G’Five, a Chinese vendor emerged at the number 3.

According to Anirban Banerjee, Associate Vice President-Research, IDC India, in the recent quarters several new players successfully launched their own devices at considerably lower Average Selling Values (ASVs) in the price sensitive Indian market.Such handsets found complete acceptance amongst first time buyers, especially from small towns and villages. During the last 6 months (January-June 2010) the top five mobile handset vendors in India were Nokia, Samsung, G’Five, Micromax and Spice.

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38.63 million Mobile phones shipped to India in Q2 with 35 new handset companies

On 09.29.10, In Mobile, By Editor

According to a report by IDC India, fragmentation continues in India’s crowded mobile handsets market: new handset vendors now number 35, and accounted for 33.2% of shipments to the Indian market in the second quarter of 2010.

Nokia retained the number one mark in India, with a market-share of 36.3% of units shipped. Samsung was at number two, and unexpectedly, Chinese brand G’Five stood at number three player in India.

At the end of 2009, IDC revealed there were 28 new handset vendors in the market, accounting for 12.3% of shipments to India. In 2009, Nokia had accounted for 54.1% of units sold in India.

For the first half of 2010, apart from Nokia, Samsung and G’Five, Micromax, which recently raised money from Sequoia Capital India, is at number four, and BK Modi’s Spice at number five.

Anirban Banerjee, AVP (Research) at IDC India attributes this to significantly lower Average Selling Values (ASVs) in the Indian market, particularly attracting first time buyers from small towns and villages.

In 2010, expect bloodshed as margins drop, particularly at the lower end of the market, and prices are pushed behind by launch of more and more Android driven handsets at the higher level from Samsung, HTC and LG.

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Micromax announces Q5 Dual SIM handset

On 02.22.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Micromax, a Gurgaon based mobile manufacturing company has unveiled the latest dual SIM handset – Micromax Q5.

This phone features Dual SIM (GSM + GSM), 15MB internal storage extendable up to 8GG expandable memory via MicroSD card, QWERTY Keypad with Track Ball, 2.2 inches QVGA Screen with 320×240 pixel resolution and 262 k colors and a 2MP camera with video recording acility.

The other features integrated with this phone are micro USB port for transfer of data, Bluetooth with A2DP, GPRS, EDGE, and WAP 2.0.

There is also Facebook, IM for multiclient chats, multiple audio formats like MP3, AMR, MIDI and WAV. Micromax Q5 has been priced at Rs. 5100 in India.

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Telenor selects Airspan as WiMAX supplier (Norway)

On 10.03.07, In Mobile, By Editor

Telenor has selected Airspan Networks to provide WiMAX equipment and services under a multi-year agreement for its Norwegian operations. Initial deployments are targeted for the Trondelag area in central Norway. Telenor holds 3.5GHz licences covering the entire country; the Airspan WiMAX equipment will be used to provide broadband connections to rural areas beyond the reach of the ADSL network. Airspan will supply both its HiperMAX and MicroMAX base stations together with its EasyST indoor and ProST outdoor subscriber terminals.

Wireless   

 

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