Recently I happened to come across a very thorough and a well-researched article which explained how the Indian mobile companies are strategising and fighting the battle in the Indian smartphone market.
According to the numbers released by IDC, these three companies form about 40 percent of the smartphone market in India. The market leader Samsung, comprised of the 38 percent of the smartphones shipped in the last quarter.
One of the surprising trends which I discovered was that these Indian companies invest more in Marketing, brand building, Retail and channel management and customer service than in Research and Development.
About 80 percent of the components were either assembled in China or were imported. Most of the phones are assembled in China, imported and sold under the brand names of the Indian companies.
China also gives a cost advantage and are thus able to sell mobiles of good configurations at cheaper rates.
The target market for these phones comprises of people buying their first smartphones and graduating from feature phones.
While Lava focuses on increasing the number of distributors, Micromax has graduated to be seen as a premium phone provider and as a competitor to likes of Samsung and Nokia.
Karbonn took the risk of investing as much as 20 percent in brand building and the gamble did pay off for them.
The challenge for these companies will now be to compete with foreign companies who offer affordable smartphones like Nokia X series and Moto X
According to the numbers released by IDC, these three companies form about 40 percent of the smartphone market in India. The market leader Samsung, comprised of the 38 percent of the smartphones shipped in the last quarter.
One of the surprising trends which I discovered was that these Indian companies invest more in Marketing, brand building, Retail and channel management and customer service than in Research and Development.
About 80 percent of the components were either assembled in China or were imported. Most of the phones are assembled in China, imported and sold under the brand names of the Indian companies.
China also gives a cost advantage and are thus able to sell mobiles of good configurations at cheaper rates.
The target market for these phones comprises of people buying their first smartphones and graduating from feature phones.
While Lava focuses on increasing the number of distributors, Micromax has graduated to be seen as a premium phone provider and as a competitor to likes of Samsung and Nokia.
Karbonn took the risk of investing as much as 20 percent in brand building and the gamble did pay off for them.
The challenge for these companies will now be to compete with foreign companies who offer affordable smartphones like Nokia X series and Moto X
