Country may ring in 1,500 mobile phone launches this year
20 Feb 2015 11:13 PM GMT
“We expect around 1,400-1,500 phone launches in 2015, up around 20 per cent from 2014,” 91mobiles.com said in a report. Last year witnessed 1,137 total phone launches whereas in 2013 the number stood at 957. The research and comparison website for mobile phones and gadgets, has a database of over 20,000 devices and claims over 40 million people visited the website in 2014.
“The trend will continue as the new brands such as Xiaomi, Motorola, Asus, Obi etc look to intensify their presence in the Indian market, while the incumbents are likely to put up a strong fight by launching several devices that cater to a larger variety of consumer preferences and price points,” Mathur said.
The report said second or third-time smartphone buyers were moving up to higher-end devices in 2013 and 2014. “However, in starting early to mid 2014, offerings from several new brands like Xiaomi, Motorola, Lenovo and Asus started providing the specs and reliability of higher end devices within the Rs 5-15k price range.” It said such devices also allowed consumers to opt for faster upgrade cycles instead of buying 40k+ phones, which they would then have to use for longer. “This led to average selling price of smartphones to fall by 18 per cent in 2014,” it added. The report said this trend of value for money devices dominating is likely to continue in 2015, although the Rs 15,000-Rs 25,000 range is likely to grow in popularity.
Meanwhile, with the popularity and expanding reach of social media, around 90 per cent of Indian brands plan to spend up to 15 per cent of their annual marketing budget exclusively on social media, says an Ernst and Young (EY) study. “Companies and brands have significantly increased their social media spends even as they find it challenging to measure the effectiveness of their social media engagements,” said EY’s Social Media Marketing India Trends Study.
It further said: “About 90 per cent of organisations reached out to in this study are planning to spend as much as 15 per cent of their annual marketing budget exclusively on social media, up from 78 per cent organisations in 2013.”
Commenting on the study, EY Partner and Customer Practice Leader (India), Advisory Services, Dinesh Mishra said: “It is our observation that while brands have invested financially and in processes, there is a need for holistic customer engagement and strong community building strategies through the use of social media.”
“The trend will continue as the new brands such as Xiaomi, Motorola, Asus, Obi etc look to intensify their presence in the Indian market, while the incumbents are likely to put up a strong fight by launching several devices that cater to a larger variety of consumer preferences and price points,” Mathur said.
The report said second or third-time smartphone buyers were moving up to higher-end devices in 2013 and 2014. “However, in starting early to mid 2014, offerings from several new brands like Xiaomi, Motorola, Lenovo and Asus started providing the specs and reliability of higher end devices within the Rs 5-15k price range.” It said such devices also allowed consumers to opt for faster upgrade cycles instead of buying 40k+ phones, which they would then have to use for longer. “This led to average selling price of smartphones to fall by 18 per cent in 2014,” it added. The report said this trend of value for money devices dominating is likely to continue in 2015, although the Rs 15,000-Rs 25,000 range is likely to grow in popularity.
Meanwhile, with the popularity and expanding reach of social media, around 90 per cent of Indian brands plan to spend up to 15 per cent of their annual marketing budget exclusively on social media, says an Ernst and Young (EY) study. “Companies and brands have significantly increased their social media spends even as they find it challenging to measure the effectiveness of their social media engagements,” said EY’s Social Media Marketing India Trends Study.
It further said: “About 90 per cent of organisations reached out to in this study are planning to spend as much as 15 per cent of their annual marketing budget exclusively on social media, up from 78 per cent organisations in 2013.”
Commenting on the study, EY Partner and Customer Practice Leader (India), Advisory Services, Dinesh Mishra said: “It is our observation that while brands have invested financially and in processes, there is a need for holistic customer engagement and strong community building strategies through the use of social media.”
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