Affordability, User Experience To Rule Smartphone Market In 2015
At the beginning of the year, IDC had estimated that total smartphone sales in the country would cross 80.5 million units in 2014.
"Features and specification are something which can be matched anytime. It is the design, user interface (UI) and the market operating price at which the product can be made available, which will entice the consumer to make a choice," IDC Senior Market Analyst Client Devices Karan Thakkar said.
BlackBerry India Managing Director Sunil Lalvani is of the view that "digital" consumers are looking to do more and scout for a better connected experience both personally as well as professionally with enhanced productivity and collaboration functionalities.
"People transitioning or experiencing the initial stages of mobility will continue to adopt feature rich, popular devices, in India this in itself is a huge opportunity with in the rural areas," he added.
Feature phones, despite falling sales volume, continue to command a lion's share of the handset market in India.
In the July-September 2014 quarter, feature phones accounted for 68 per cent of the total handset sales in India.
The smartphone market also received a huge fillip from the huge uptake of the eCommerce platform.
After a hiatus of nearly two years, U.S.-based Motorola made a comeback to the Indian market in February this year with the launch of its Moto G. The choice of its sales platform was interesting. It adopted a completely online sales model partnering eCommerce major Flipkart.
Since then, many other handset makers have followed that model, launching handsets exclusively through online marketplaces like Snapdeal and Amazon and later introducing the device in the offline market.
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