Gionee Smartphones wants to reach the dominant position in India. The Chinese mobile phone vendor’s aim is to take on Samsung and Apple, and become the market leader in the country in the next five years.

The other target is to become a top five global brand in the smartphone business. This was revealed by Gionee Smartphones during a press event in India on 24 December.

The mobile phone vendor predicts that globally there will be three Chinese brands in the top five positions in the next five years. One brand will be Gionee Smartphones, which started global operations in 2002 and now has presence in 40 countries. The other two global brands will be Samsung and Apple.

Globally, ZTE, Lenovo and Huawei are strong smartphone vendors. Considering Gionee Smartphones’ predictions, one of these brands will not be in the top five ranking.

Lu Weibing, president of Gionee Smartphones, said: “Everything is possible in India. Few years ago, Nokia was the market leader. Like Nokia, several brands have faced challenges. Few brands have emerged as well.”

As per Gionee Smartphones’ predictions for India, smartphone vendors such as Nokia/Microsoft, HTC, Sony, LG, BlackBerry, Micromax, Karbonn, etc. will not be in the top position in India after five years.

Gionee Smartphones says it needs to focus on marketing and distribution in order to become the market leader in India, the second largest telecom market in the world, he said.

The phone vendor is ready to innovate and understand the market demands to become the top player.

Gionee Smartphones does not consider Apple as one of the main competitors because the American devices giant plays in the premium phone category. Samsung is its main challenge.

“We are ready to take on Samsung in India and globally.”

Gionee Smartphones in India

Gionee Smartphones’ India growth performance was impressive. In the first nine months of its operations, its India business generated revenues of Rs 250 crore. In the next three months, it will achieve Rs 250 crore. Hence, the full year revenue from smartphone business will be Rs 500 crore.

The company is ramping up distribution and service centers in India.

“We are targeting Rs 1,800 crore turnover next year in India,” said Arvind R Vohra, director, Syntech Technology.

Gionee abroad

Gionee products are currently selling in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Russia, Middle East and Africa, with exports reaching 1 million phones per month for oversea markets.

Gionee currently sells over 23 million handsets per year in China mainland and has been ranked No. 2 brand in the GSM market. In 2006, the first phase of the project had a total investment of more than 1Billion RMB and covers an area of 500 acres of the Gionee Industrial Park. Production reached a capacity of 40 million units per year and will reach 80 million units per year, making Gionee China’s largest mobile phone production site.

Baburajan K
[email protected]