Smartphone Case Study
Sony, Motorola, LG, Acer join Apple, HTC to focus on top-end smartphones in India
KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Once popular mobile phone brands Sony, Motorola and LG are joining the likes of HTC and Apple and focusing on the small but lucrative segment of high-value smartphones in the Indian market. The shift comes after multiple failed attempts to salvage market share in the fiercely-competitive feature phone and entry-level smartphone segments.
These companies may have globally decided to move out of feature phones as early as last year, but were still selling them in India in a last-ditch attempt to gain a presence after losing out to competition from Nokia, and home-grown brands Micromax and Karbonn. In entry-level smartphones, Samsung has thrown a big challenge to all by launching multiple models in the sub- Rs 10,000 segment running on Google's popular Android smartphone operating system.
Even smartphone brands like Acer and Dell are significantly pruning their presence in the Indian market after failing to crack it. Dell, which last year built a portfolio of 4-5 smartphone models in India such as Dell Venue and Dell XCD35, is planning to exit the market altogether, according to a Dell India spokesperson.
Acer, on the hand, will have a minimal presence that is restricted to the premium smartphone segment. A senior Acer India executive recently said that it will go slow in the Indian mobile phone market and will have a limited number of models. However, an email sent to Acer India remained unanswered. The Taiwanese hardware major, which had ventured in India last year with 10 smartphone models, currently has four models.
As per market estimates, Sony, Motorola, LG, Acer and Dell each has less than a 2% volume market share in a cell phone market in which Nokia is the market leader with a 23% share in the January to March quarter. The Finnish handsets maker is followed by Samsung with a 14% share and Micromax at third position with 5.8%.
"Consumers in the entry and
KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Once popular mobile phone brands Sony, Motorola and LG are joining the likes of HTC and Apple and focusing on the small but lucrative segment of high-value smartphones in the Indian market. The shift comes after multiple failed attempts to salvage market share in the fiercely-competitive feature phone and entry-level smartphone segments.
These companies may have globally decided to move out of feature phones as early as last year, but were still selling them in India in a last-ditch attempt to gain a presence after losing out to competition from Nokia, and home-grown brands Micromax and Karbonn. In entry-level smartphones, Samsung has thrown a big challenge to all by launching multiple models in the sub- Rs 10,000 segment running on Google's popular Android smartphone operating system.
Even smartphone brands like Acer and Dell are significantly pruning their presence in the Indian market after failing to crack it. Dell, which last year built a portfolio of 4-5 smartphone models in India such as Dell Venue and Dell XCD35, is planning to exit the market altogether, according to a Dell India spokesperson.
Acer, on the hand, will have a minimal presence that is restricted to the premium smartphone segment. A senior Acer India executive recently said that it will go slow in the Indian mobile phone market and will have a limited number of models. However, an email sent to Acer India remained unanswered. The Taiwanese hardware major, which had ventured in India last year with 10 smartphone models, currently has four models.
As per market estimates, Sony, Motorola, LG, Acer and Dell each has less than a 2% volume market share in a cell phone market in which Nokia is the market leader with a 23% share in the January to March quarter. The Finnish handsets maker is followed by Samsung with a 14% share and Micromax at third position with 5.8%.
"Consumers in the entry and