Huawei, Microsoft producing low-cost smartphone tailored for Indian market
WASHINGTON – Driven in part by the ongoing wireless revolution, India, a country marred by the fallout of colonialism and stagnated by populist economics, is poised to leave the past behind and emerge as an economic powerhouse.
With a young and dynamic population of 1.2 billion people, and a recently elected economic reformist government, services in India like mobile banking, mobile news media, mobile marketing and simple person-to-person communication have huge potential, and it appears hardware manufacturers are taking note.
On March 23, Chinese device manufacturer Huawei announced its goal of selling 2 million smartphones in India in 2015.
“The smartphone market in India is growing very fast,” Huawei Telecommunications India CEO Cai Liqun told The Hindu, noting that the company posted 2013 revenue of $800 million and is projecting $2 billion in profits by 2017.
“Consumer business and enterprise will play an important role in this growth,” Liqun said. “While carrier network[s] will keep growing, our market share there is already big, around 30%.”
When speaking about planned auctions of spectrum in India, Liqun said “the big problem of the telecom industry is there is not enough spectrum.
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“This is why mobile broadband in India is still behind other countries. Maybe [the] past 10-15 years belonged to voice, but [the] next 15 years definitely will be about mobile broadband. The auctions will give more bandwidth to the telecom operators.”
Keen to not be left behind in the race to market low-cost smartphones in India and across the developing world, Microsoft is expanding on its Lumia series of smartphones.
Priced at about $70, the phone is targeted to emerging markets by branding itself as an affordable, durable device.
“People around the world have responded enthusiastically to our affordable Lumia range,” Corporate VP for Phones Jo Harlow said.
“We continue to invest in this segment to ensure that as many people as possible can enjoy signature Microsoft experiences, regardless of budget.”