MediaTek India, a well known semiconductor company has recently carried out a survey with shopkeepers and mobile phone users to gauge the latest trends in this space.
The study reveals that India is still a low cost phone destination. About 50% of the users interviewed still tend to buy a handset in the Rs.1500 – Rs. 2000 range with basic functionalities.
This is similar to an earlier survey carried out by MediaTek in rural India, where 55% of the rural users too buy a low cost phone based on the recommendations of peers, friends, family etc.
The survey was carried out over a sample size of 1000 people in Metros and about 300 shopkeepers. It consisted of a mixed group of people belonging to the middle and low income groups including young people and students.
Metro Shopkeeper Suvery Report:
However, some of the usage habits of users living in metro cities are changing, and this is in sharp contrast to people living in villages and other rural areas. While a rural person would prefer having a phone with a longer battery life, thanks to longer power cuts, one living in an urban setup or in a metro city would want a better looking phone which is high on features.
Speaking about the two studies Mr. Arun Gupta, Director-Business Development, MediaTek India Technology said, “The study was aimed at identifying the latest trends in mobile buying and how does the consumer have a say in such changes. Consumers are increasingly being aware of the latest models in the market and demand for more features and better looking handsets at a relatively lesser price.”
Study says that the margin with global brands is the lowest and it also remains the most demanded with the metro consumers. With the Indian brands it’s a 50 – 50 split between higher margins and higher demand with consumers. Non-branded phones, although are the most profitable to sell for shopkeepers, aren’t really popular with metro consumers since there are no after sales services and durability is an issue too.
Many of the users surveyed bought their handsets based on the recommendation of a friend or someone known to them or based on self knowledge and research. Also about 21% of them would go with a handset which has a higher warranty period. If users are satisfied with their handset and the services provided they would wholeheartedly recommend it to the people known. 70% of them would even buy the same brand again, if satisfied.
Commenting on this study Mr. Gupta further opines, “Usage patterns of a metro user are very different from that of a person living in a village. They are less likely to compromise on looks or functionality for price.”
The study also reveals that a large number of urban users prefer a global brand over an Indian or a locally manufactured brand. Also 42% of them would prefer to buy a brand new handset rather than going with a used model.
anil gautam September 21, 2010 at 5:13 pm
vedioconis doing good business by following good straregies like targeting youngers and providing them good tariff plan.
Nutan July 14, 2010 at 3:53 pm
@ Amit.G
About a week ago,I purchased Samsung GT-S5350. I think you have used it for 2 months or more,Howz the overall performance?
MaNoJ June 14, 2010 at 12:50 pm
@Amit.G
May be…
But I am using My Nokia E63, I never faced any problem with this.
Personally, my reason to choose Nokia phone is easily availability of multiple symbion software.
Amit.G June 14, 2010 at 12:20 pm
@MaNoJ
Before even i was a big fan of nokia.. truely speaking I change handsets every 6 months. till now i have purchased 16 handsets & among them 14 were nokia phones but from past 2 years i started facing software prob in nokia phones like frequent restarting, hanging, in t basic handset 1202 signal reception was t worst as well as call quality. so i switched to samsung with my first handset basic guru & was satisfied with its performance later got GT-S5350(metro 3G) and even this is good phone with loaded features like smile shot recognition & other stuff, battery comes for 3 days in 2G & 1 day in 3G.
MaNoJ June 14, 2010 at 10:54 am
Wow..
Good war between Nokia and Samsung here.
I think there is no comparison between both brands.
Nokia is known for its call quality, long battery, customer care experience, price and reliability, that’s why Nokia has 40.3% share of world’s Mobile market.
While Samsung is known as for its multi product range, cheap price, something new in each handset. That’s why Samsung has 15.2 % mobile market share in the world.
According to a servery Nokia is most trustable Mobile brand in the world.
rajiev June 14, 2010 at 10:51 am
depends on model no. some have gud signal strength some havn;t.
Amit.G June 14, 2010 at 8:35 am
@Keshav Jha
Who told samsung signal reception is poor?? Its the best one but only thing is it signal bars won be full but i had gone to one place where signal was very very weak. in both phones i had same operator’s simcards.In nokia siganl was zero & ter was no incomming, in samsung was also signal was zero but only it was displaying operators logo, i was surprised when i got a call to my samsung mobile..even i was able to make outgoing calls but when i tried to call to nokia, it was out of reach.
rajiev June 14, 2010 at 6:44 am
bhai both r best in terms n quaility, nokia is no1 postion and samsung no2 aur nokia ka share market down hota ja raha aur samsung ka up.
TUFAN June 14, 2010 at 1:42 am
@Keshav Jha
arey oye kon ha yaar tum, jo itna samsung ko nokia k saath compare kar rahe ho ?????
nokia ka display better hai ? samsung ka camera Quality VGA type ka hai ? Video resolution kam hai ?????? dimag naam ki koi chiz ha ya nhi tumhare pas pure india kya world ko pata ha samsung agar jana jata ha toh woh apne display,video n picture Quality k chalte or tum ek kaha se aa gaya jo samsung ko badnaam kar rahe ho ?
chi chi yaar phele apne aakhon ka ilaj karao phir aana nokia ki tarif karne……….
agar karna he tha to samsung ka sony ericsson k saath compare karta……. nokia to abhi bacha ha,,,, sirf yahi mann skta hu nokia ka battery bohot acha hai, chahe woh samsung ho ya koi or company……but samsung is samsung yaar uske jaisa na koi hua ha na koi hoga…..i love samsung…….
Rifaz June 13, 2010 at 11:42 pm
All guys are right for using personal people nokia is the best apart from that using other phones as second phone is preferable.
KP09 June 13, 2010 at 11:58 am
Nokia rocks all other r crap.. Go only n only 4 nokia..
IDRIS June 13, 2010 at 11:23 am
What ever you say NOKIA ke handsets bahut badhiya hote hain ….Nokia ke handsets mein quality aur features zabardast hote hain.
spsam June 13, 2010 at 11:05 am
yes, its true, if we can get a big colour tv (@ Rs 7000) or a dvd player with mp4/divx (@ Rs 2500), why should we pay so much for a small mobile phone?
The circuit board comes for 100 bucks in bulk and the display unit comes for 200 bucks in bulk… considering the huge production, it should be even less.. still mobile phones range starts from 1500… we need to think
all branded companies are just fooling public…. hope micromax, lava, karbon etc etc will reduce cost further so that a good/handy mobile with 3inch screen, 3G, touch screen, java enabled etc will comes around Rs 3K maximum…..
Keshav Jha June 12, 2010 at 10:34 pm
@rahulraj
Samsung is smart. Ye wo khoobi dete hain jo dikhta hai. Like long battery, huge sound, large memory card support etc. 1 saal pahle main 3G phone khareedne gaya tha ek dukaan par. Us samay Nokia aur Samsung dono ka low cost 3G phone 7000-7200/- mein aata tha. Maine Nokia 3120c dikhane ko kaha. Dukanwala forcely mujhey Samsung dikhane laga aur taareefen karne laga. Phir bhi maine Nokia 3120c hin liya. 6 mahine pahle maine apne ek dost ke paas wahi samsung wala phone dekha. Set kaafi bhadda lag raha tha. Ek hin jagah maine compare karna suru kiya to paya ki Samsung mein signal Nokia se kaafi kam aa raha tha. Display Nokia ka better tha. Picture kheench kar dekha ki Samsung me resolution to wahi tha lekin picture me glazing nahin tha. Quality VGA type tha. Video resolution Nokia me 640/480 aur Samsung me 176/144 tha. Frame per second Nokia ka far better tha. Player me video streaming nahin tha, aur bhi. Kahne ka matlab ki Nokia is honestly providing us quality in all aspects. Ye cheat nahin karti hai. I think there is no company who can stand with Nokia. I love Nokia.
Amit.G June 12, 2010 at 9:25 pm
@Arjun.C
Blackberry handsets are the best, i have never used blackberry but my friends use it.. its a supercool phone. Nokia cannot be compared with RIM. Blackberry handsets are only for ppl who have enough money
Rifaz June 12, 2010 at 9:21 pm
But i dont think so nokia is far better than samsung in matter of battery nokia is far better than samsung, battery of all samsung if we use gprs or 3g drains very fast since samsung battery are all in range of 850-1000 mAH BUT nokia is around 1100-1300 mAH
samsung lacks symbian power whereas nokia give in low range phones also.
All in all nokia is most recommmed brand in india,middle east and rest of world.
Power that nokia made revolution with apps is stupendouly fantablous.
“Nokia is the best brand”
Arjun.C June 12, 2010 at 6:51 pm
@Amit.G
Well What’s about Blackberry?
Amit.G June 12, 2010 at 6:47 pm
@rahulraj
Your rite SAMSUNG is far better compared to nokia & now even rural ppl wont prefer nokia after nokia released a third class handset 1202. When i had been to nokia care ter were nearly 15ppl who were from village & had cme to repair ter new handsets(withn warrenty) in tat they were shouting at the nokia care person saying how many times we shoul cme to repair this handset bla bla…. & at last they told “we ll never buy nokia phones they are not of good quality like before” & its for sure tat they ll spread this in ter villages & tell others not to go for it.. In 3 years nokia will start loosing its market share if it continues to manufacture poor quality phones
Harpreet Singh Chadha June 12, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Is there any Regulator who will keep a tab on the quality of the Cheap phones ?
rahulraj June 12, 2010 at 3:42 pm
the best brand according to me is SAMSUNG,if anyone compares its features and durability along with battery back-up then it stands far ahead of nokia in the same price range
mekalwin T June 12, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Consumer affinity towards brand Nokia is still very high even in semi-urban areas. The brand continues to be the first choice for many. At the retail outlet, the consumer first asks for Nokia and compares other products with it.
The lack of a best-choice product from Nokia’s stable, which fits into a consumer’s budget and matches their expectations, pushes the consumer to opt for a substitute brand. In such a situation, the market scenario could change if Nokia starts matching its product offering with the Indian brands at their price.
Srihari Kolusu AP June 12, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Now a Days Dual/Triple Sim Phones are getting more acceptance from Indians, Social Networking, Messaging, Browsing is getting more popular. Let C what 3G will bring revolution india…………….