Faisal Siddiqui,
Country Head,
HTC India
"We focus on design and high quality smartphones. We are building authenticity in terms of branding, making it more bold."
Consumer behaviour in India is witnessing an influential shift. India is already amongst the top five nations for Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube users. Mobile devices are becoming the preferred choice for accessing internet for many users across multiple internet properties, e.g. online booking, e-commerce, m-banking, entertainment as well as e-governance. Driven by preferences created by advanced technology offerings, HTC is slowly building its reputation as one of the visionary companies with a commitment to developing technologies and bringing innovative devices to the Indian smartphone market. Faisal Siddiqui, Country Head, HTC India, throws some more light on the changing consumer preferences and HTC’s strategy around customers support.
Is the phablet concept picking up among Indian customers? Will phablets substitute smartphones in the near future?
Yes, we can see consumers are making the choice to buy a large screen smartphone rather than buying a tablet in India, where the phablet is a runway hit. One of the key reasons for this could be the fact that smartphones are gradually becoming large enough to replace tablets. So, it can be said that the growth in the phablet category will be at the cost of tablets.
The low-cost tablet market is on the rise in India. What do you have to say to this sudden surge and what are your plans for this particular market?
HTC wants to be the leading smartphone company in the Indian market. We manufacture the best smartphones. We create the best smartphone experiences for Indian consumers. We are one of the best smartphone companies and we aspire to lead the smartphone market.
India being a price-sensitive market and more than half of the population of the country comprising of “masses”, what is your strategy to connect to this section of customers? How do you plan to tap the “feature” phone market?
India is our growth market. We are ramping up our network, investing in branding and increasing our retail presence. We have a partnership with Tata {to provide Internet services to customers} and are looking for more partners. India is the world’s fastest-growing market for mobile phones with 80–90% annual growth, according to industry estimates. It is expected to become the third-largest smartphone market in the next three to four years. We have worked with different telecom operators like Vodafone and Reliance in the past. So we will leverage these partnerships to increase our reach and distribution.
What is your strategy around support?
About 50 per cent of India's smartphone market in volume is priced above Rs.10,000. We would restrict ourselves in the segment above Rs.10,000. But we are introducing most of our key selling features in the lower end of our portfolio. Even top-end features are now available in our handsets priced at around Rs.16,000. Unless consumers see value at every price point, it would be difficult to become successful.
Arrangements with operators, including those of dual-technology for our dual-SIM products, increasing options of regional languages, of colours, and of equated monthly installments – both six months and 12 months – would certainly boost HTC's growth in the world's second-largest populated country.
satinder@varindia.com
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