Indian devices vendor Maxx Mobile has drafted its feature mobile phone strategy.
In an interaction with TelecomLead.com, Krishna Singh, COO, Maxx Mobile, said the company would expand its service centers to 2,000 by 2014 from the present 1,087. The expansion of service centers will assist the device maker to focus more on semi rural and urban locations.
At present, Maxx Mobile phones are available in 10,000 registered outlets, while the total number of shops which are selling Maxx Mobile devices are around 30,000. Out of this, the company’s presence are in 60 percent towns and 40 percent semi rural locations.
The company is also finalizing its plans to launch 500 phones by the end of the current fiscal in a bid to compete better with feature phone vendors such as Nokia, Samsung, Karbonn, Micromax, etc. Out of the 500 planned for the current fiscal, half will be feature phones. The company has already launched 90 models this fiscal, with 38 are active phone models.
“Our focus will be on feature phones to grow revenue and volume market share in India. We address consumers with attractive phones at different price points,” Singh said.
According to a recent Gartner report, 210 million units of feature phones were sold in the second quarter across the world. India is one of the markets for feature phones. That’s why Nokia is continuing to come with new feature phones under the Asha series.
“A large chunk of the Indian population has just entered the mobile ecosystem and the purpose of mobile phone usage is limited only to basic communication such as calls, SMSs etc. This population mainly comes from rural parts of India where awareness regarding advanced mobile technology is very limited and has no scope for it,” Singh added.
Maxx Mobile is not planning to substantially increase its presence in rural markets in India. This is despite the fact that mobile penetration in rural markets in 2012 was around 39 percent. The company says it is generating considerable income from tier 1 and tier 2 towns at present.
Ajjay Agarwal, chairman and managing director of Maxx Mobile, recently said that the company understands the value for money attitude of Indian consumers and aims to provide every user a mobile phone with maximum features at the most affordable prices.
Maxx Mobile, which is claiming a market share of around 3 percent in the Indian mobile phone market, wants to become the #1 brand in India by 2014-end. The company is targeting Rs 800-1400 crore revenue in fiscal 2014.
The device major is also introducing several innovations aimed at improving customer care. Maxx Mobile has launched paperless service for its customers. At present, the company has a centralized computer system to monitor all activities.
The company, which imports phones from China, has plans to make devices in India – at its Haridwar manufacturing facility. Currently, it makes phone accessories at this plant.
Baburajan K
[email protected]
