Print

Comment

Email

Digg

Del.icio.us

Reddit

Twitter

Voice, data, and video connectivity on-the-move form the epicenter of any smartphone device. Studies suggest that mobile email is the most important application for smartphone users. The most important drivers for smartphones, according to a study, are productivity, managing customer needs, and leveraging data. The study also found that instantly responding to emails, flexible work timings, and the need to be out-of-office were the perceived advantages of smartphones. These business applications for enterprises are key to smartpones growth. Multimedia features (camera, audio, and video) are also complementing the growth of this segment. The slowdown does not appear to have had much impact on the growth of smartphones in India.

Key Trends
As the Indian mobile market makes a march towards maturity, smartphone (converged devices with an OS and with features such as email, multimedia capabilities, GPS, Wi-Fi, LBS, etc) vendors are smiling. India has emerged as one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world and monthly subscriber additions continue to hover around 8 mn. FY 09 was historical for smartphones segment in India. While Nokia continued with its aggressive push into smartphones market during FY 09, RIM (makers of Blackberry devices) ended the year by signing up five new operators for its devices. India also saw the launch of the much hyped iPhone 3G from Airtel and Vodafone. Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Korean vendors also launched series of new devices primarily targeting end users with multimedia leanings. Motorola, however, with its Q family is trying to target business users. Acer, till now was focusing on desktops and notebooks in India, launched five smartphone models, indicating a proliferation in this market.

Whats New
Nokia, the largest smartphones player in India, focused on its E-Series (E here stands for efficiency) with a comprehensive portfolio providing a large number of choice to its customers. During FY 09, style was one of the areas which Nokia clearly focused on, roping in Bollywood stars for its promotion. The first E-Series was launched in 2006 (Nokia E50, Nokia E60, Nokia E70, and Nokia E61). This was followed by the launch of Nokia E62, Nokia E61i, Nokia E90, Nokia E65 and Nokia E51 in 2007. These products were well received by Indian users. Nokia followed this trend in FY 09 with the launch of Nokia E71 (with full QWERTY keyboard) and Nokia E66. These devices were primarily aimed at email and Blackberry users. It also bundled Nokia Intellisync Wireless email solution, GPS, Nokia Maps for navigation, 8GB external memory, and a 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera. In all, eight E-Series phones were available for Indian consumers in FY 09 including E90 Communicator. Nokia has also recently launched Nokia E75, the first side-slider (from the company) that offers the best-in-class corporate and consumer email experience via pre-installed Nokia messaging push email service. The device offers complete integration of email and messaging services and supports up to sixteen email accounts. In an attempt to take on Blackberry, Nokia also partnered with IBM, Microsoft, IBM Lotus Notes Traveler, and Mail for Exchange.

Apart from targeting business users, Nokia also launched a series of phones targeting gaming enthusiasts like the N85 with preloaded N-gage games. Incidentally, Nokia also launched its gaming service, N-Gage in India. Apart from this, it also launched N97, the first touchscreen phone in India, designed for Internet savvy users. Nokias strategy is hinged on its stated objective of providing tailored solutions for each segmentcombining network capabilities with style and technology.

CyberMedia Research                         DQ Estimates

Though Nokia phones are still the most popular, Blackberry and Samsung are fast gaining ground. Smartphone prices are also falling. Except for Blackberry and iPhones, all other vendors start their offerings between Rs 7,000-8,000 range

On the other hand, RIM continued with its aggressive strategy of breaking through exclusive arrangements with some operators. Samsung launched Omnia, Innov8, and Soul, while LG launched its first touchscreen phone, LG KP500 (nicknamed Cookie), for the Indian market. It also launched LG KF510 and LG KP320.

After gaining substantial acceptability amongst corporate users, and continuously innovating since its launch in India in 2004, RIM continued its India focus with a range of smartphonesBold, Curve 8900, Storm, and Pearl series. Apart from offering its Blackberry device, it also continued to widen its offerings beyond mail to provide capabilities for integration of applications such as CRM, sales force automation, field services, business intelligence, supply chain management, and continuity of operations across verticals. The partnership with SAP was a step in this direction.

From having only one operator in 2004, BlackBerry is now available on nine networks (it added five service providers during FY 09) including the incumbent operators. It also announced a national retail distribution partnership with Redington to further increase penetration of BlackBerry smartphones in the consumer segment. Apart from this, BlackBerry tied up with The Mobile store, Reliance Digital, Planet M and other multi-brand retail outlets across India, thus taking the indirect route. All this has resulted in BlackBerry reaching a 4 lakh milestone during FY 09.

Apples iPhone redefined the smartphones market globally, but unfortunately it was a dampener in India, which defied the phenomenal success it got globally. Incidentally, the country head of Apple India quit. According to media reports, failure of iPhone to click in India is seen as one of the reasons for the same. Indian users appeared to have rejected iPhone, priced at Rs 31,000 (8GB). The device failed to live up to the hype that was created. Though put under the smartphones category, absence of some basic features such as word processing, physical keyboard and flash technology and its exclusivity with Airtel and Vodafone, were some of the reasons for its expected uptake in the Indian market.

Motorola started its smartphones journey in India in 2006, with its MOTOMING A1200 followed by business and entertainment touchscreen phonesMOTOROKR E6, MOTO Q8 and MOTO Q9h. 2008 saw the launch of MOTOMING A1600, MOTOYUVA EM32, MOTOROKR EM30, and Motozine ZN 5. It also introduced MOTOROKR E8 with music focus, ModeShift technology, and FastScroll navigation wheel. Q was positioned as an easy configuration device keeping users connected to both work and personal email accounts in real-time on Windows Mobile 6.1 with the facility of accessing and editing Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents on-the-go.

HTC also pursued its aggressive strategy and launched HTC TOUCH DIAMONDa CDMA phone. It also launched HTC Touch 3G which utilizes enhanced TouchFLO technology, HTCs finger-touch optimized navigation experience enabling quick, one-touch access to applications.

Acer, one of the latest entrants in the Indian market, appointed a Delhi based distributorVision Distributionand has also signed most of the retailers such as Croma and Reliance for retailing their smartphones.

The Touch and Form Factor
Apples introduction of touch based iPhones got quickly replicated by all major vendors including Nokia. Several touchscreen phones were launched during FY 09 with featuresgesture recognition, one-handed operation, accelerometersthat are becoming an important factor for the growth of smartphones in India. Apart from providing large screen capabilities, touch interface also had its bearing on advanced features such as music players, mapping, and web browsing. Ease-of-use and right placement of keys were two things that played an important role in the success of these devices. Unfortunately, the innovator of iPhoneApplecould not read the Indian users mind and the device failed to click during FY 09.

The OS Factor
The dominant position held by Symbian OS, (due to its championing by Nokia), seemed to be on the wane during FY 09, with Windows Mobile based smartphones also increasing its market share. With BlackBerry and iPhone continuing with their own OSs, both these platforms are likely to face stiff challenge in the coming years due to some of the innovative new platforms such as Android. HTC has already launched its first Android phone in India.

Outlook
The forthcoming years look exciting for smartphones market with flurry of activities. HTC, in partnership with Airtel, introduced Indias first Android phoneHTC Magic. Surprisingly, HTC has followed BlackBerrys strategy of exclusivity with one operator for its Android phone. VMware is already betting big on this segment with its VMware Mobile Virtualization Platform. With mobile social networking becoming popular, FY 10 would turn out to be a crucial year for this segment. The year may also see smartphones competition hotting up with the entry of new players such as Huawei, which recently showcased two new smartphones at CommunicAsia 2009Android-powered U8230 and C8000 which utilizes Windows Mobile OS. With Japanese giant DOCOMOs entry into India in partnership with Tata, the smartphones market is set to witness a lot of innovation in the mobile Internet space as well. As the quality of maps improve and licensing terms get simplified, phones with GPS capabilities are likely to become more in vogue. With 3G around the corner, market conditions are ripe for smartphones to take-off. Moreover, the proliferation of smartphones, brings in security vulnerabilities too. Some security vendors like F-Secure are eyeing the huge opportunities in this space and have already introduced security solutions. India looks all set to become the top smartphones market in the APAC region.

Sudesh Prasad
sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in

Page(s)   1