Micromax co-founder Vikas Jain today said the third largest smartphone vendor is currently working on wearable devices including smart watch.

Vikas Jain, co-founder, Micromax, said: “We are doing R&D on smart wearable devices. We think we will be able to launch our smart wearable device in the current financial year. There is an excitement in the hardware side.”

Smartwatch market potential

Worldwide shipments of smart watches in 2018 will be in the region of 214 million units and the retail value of the market will be $62.2 billion, said Generator Research.

Also read: ZTE plans to launch smartwatch early next year to take on Samsung, Sony

NextMarket Insights says smartwatch market is forecast to reach a total of 15 million smartwatches shipped worldwide, up from 5 million in 2013.  Growth is expected to continue after that, with the market hitting nearly 37 million watches shipped in 2015.

Micromax strategies

In order to increase smartphone market share in India, Micromax, the second largest smartphone maker, will focus on increasing customer experience to end consumers.

Also read: India smartphone market share 2013: Samsung 32%, Micromax 21%, Karbonn 11

Indian smartphone users are increasingly using gaming. They need mobile data connectivity to improve their satisfaction, they enjoy video, they want better processing speed, they want high RAM, etc. “Smartphone consumption is moving away from just camera and hardware options. Experience matters a lot for Indian users,” Jain added.

Micromax 4G smartphone

Micromax is currently testing dual-mode 4G smartphones that can work on both TD-LTE and FD-LTE technology. It is expected that new 4G smartphones will be available in the current year. This will benefit telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, which has more than 1 lakh LTE connections despite launching two years ago and Reliance Jio Inofcomm, which will hit the LTE market this year.

Lack of strong eco-system and cost effective smartphones have already impacted the growth of LTE market in India. After the recent spectrum auction, several telecoms said they would launch FD-LTE networks offering high speed Internet services across India, which has more than 850 mobile users, primarily in urban locations.

Micromax revenue growth

Micromax, which faced a series of exodus from senior management team, said the company has achieved around 100 percent growth in revenue in the current financial year. This is a significant achievement for the Indian smartphone vendor which focuses on high quality smartphones and tablets primarily for the domestic market.

Smartphone consolidation

In the recent past, Nokia said it will move into the folds of Microsoft, while Lenovo is acquiring Motorola Mobility. Jain said the mobile industry is seeing consolidation because there is demand among OS vendors to stabilize their offerings.

Micromax has constantly strived to democratize technologies for the masses by bringing customized products and offerings.

“Entering a new phase, our focus is now to provide seamless solutions to the consumers using their smart devices, thereby concentrating a large chunk of our efforts on coming up with products and services which act as solutions to the needs of the fast-evolving consumers,” he said on the alliance among Micromax, MicroTek and Aircel.

Baburajan K
[email protected]