Forbes India: Maxx mobile, the Shanzhai warrior - Business News - IBNLive
The rise of local brands like Maxx, Micromax, Spice and Karbonn is arguably one of the fastest shake-ups the world has seen in a category that was both mature and dominated by well-entrenched brands like Nokia, Samsung and BlackBerry. In about two years, these newcomers have gone from under 1 per cent of the Indian mobile handset market to 17.5 per cent, collectively selling over 2 million phones every month.
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Ajjay Agarwal's Maxx Mobiles is now the fifth largest mobile brand in India with a 4.7 per cent market share.
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In fact, the pendulum swung so far that innovation began to be led by the newer players. Unrestricted by global supply chain, brand or regulatory requirements, they could create phones for customer needs that a big company like Nokia would consider too niche or transient. Dual- and triple-SIMs, phones claiming 30-day standby or AAA-batteries, GSM-CDMA combos, 12 megapixel cameras, alphabetically-arranged full keypads… Name it and some entrepreneur has already launched it.
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Much of the market share gained by the new mobile handset companies in India has come from the leviathan Nokia, the big daddy of mobile phones. At one point the company had an unheard of market share of nearly 70 per cent in India. But thanks to a combination of lethargy on its part and nimble-footedness from the newer brands, that share is down to 54 per cent, according to IDC India.
So is it really worth to go for Indian brands of mobiles. Are they are just a short term device and we cannot expect longterm service from them?
The rise of local brands like Maxx, Micromax, Spice and Karbonn is arguably one of the fastest shake-ups the world has seen in a category that was both mature and dominated by well-entrenched brands like Nokia, Samsung and BlackBerry. In about two years, these newcomers have gone from under 1 per cent of the Indian mobile handset market to 17.5 per cent, collectively selling over 2 million phones every month.
...
Ajjay Agarwal's Maxx Mobiles is now the fifth largest mobile brand in India with a 4.7 per cent market share.
...
In fact, the pendulum swung so far that innovation began to be led by the newer players. Unrestricted by global supply chain, brand or regulatory requirements, they could create phones for customer needs that a big company like Nokia would consider too niche or transient. Dual- and triple-SIMs, phones claiming 30-day standby or AAA-batteries, GSM-CDMA combos, 12 megapixel cameras, alphabetically-arranged full keypads… Name it and some entrepreneur has already launched it.
...
Much of the market share gained by the new mobile handset companies in India has come from the leviathan Nokia, the big daddy of mobile phones. At one point the company had an unheard of market share of nearly 70 per cent in India. But thanks to a combination of lethargy on its part and nimble-footedness from the newer brands, that share is down to 54 per cent, according to IDC India.
So is it really worth to go for Indian brands of mobiles. Are they are just a short term device and we cannot expect longterm service from them?
