This Indian company is promising a $7 Android smartphone
How does one sell a new smartphone brand in the world's fastest growing market that already has more than 65 established players?
If we go by what has been happening in India in the recent months, cheap marketing gimmicks is the answer you are looking for.
India is the world’s second largest smartphone market. Over 65 brands compete against each other to grab a share of over 25 million smartphones that are shipped every quarter. Given the market size and future potential, it seems like a lucrative business model to launch a new smartphone brand, selling those phones are a different matter altogether, considering established brands like Samsung, Micromax, Xiaomi and others already sell smartphones priced under $100.
You May Also Like
Naturally, some resort to inventive and creative ways to boost their foothold in the market.
Now a new entrant in the market, ChampOne, is claiming it will sell its C1 Android smartphone for as low as Rs 501 ($7). The ChampOne C1 seems like a decent mid-range smartphone on paper. It sports a 5-inch HD display, a fingerprint scanner, 2GB of RAM, 8-megapixel rear camera, and is powered by a 1.3Ghz MediaTek MT6735 SoC.
On its website, ChampOne says that its phone will be available to customers participating in the flash sale on September 2 for Rs 501. Afterwards, it will retail at Rs 7,999 ($120). To participate in the flash sale, you are first required to register on the company’s website. Except you can’t because the company’s website is conveniently facing “technical glitches” for quite some time now. Considering the media spotlight around the $7 smartphone, the company's marketing has been done, irrespective of whether it sells the smartphone for $7 or not. This is not the first time a smartphone manufacturer has tried to capture everyone’s attention in the market by promising unreal pricing only to falter later. An unknown company from Northern India called Ringing Bells had unveiled its Freedom 251 smartphone in February. The company promised to launch the smartphone at a retail price of Rs 251 ($3.5) and said it aims at getting the phone to every Indian. Except that it didn’t. Not only was it caught branding an Adcom phone as its own, the company’s other claims of its phone being compliant with Indian government’s Make in India and Digital India programs didn’t hold much water either.
It had promised to ship 2.5 million phones by end of June, but has shipped less than 70,000 phones so far, if we were to believe the company's claims. In the meanwhile, Ringing Bells is now offering a range of other smartphones, feature phones and even a Rs 9,900 ($147) 32-inch HD TV. Today the company announced a loyalty card, which prospective buyers can purchase to get discounts on its products and also get a unit of Freedom 251 for free. In the months since, we have seen a handful of other players try similar techniques in hopes of making a dent in the market. A Southern Indian company mPhone aggressively marketed its 'Mango' series of smartphones, claiming that they are build in accordance with Digital India and Make in India programs. The founders were arrested on the day of the launch after it was found that they have been part of a number of fraud cases. In April, another company called Docoss touted to offer a phone called Docoss X1 at a price point of Rs 888 ($10). The company had plans to do a flash sale and ship the phones in coming weeks. Four months later, its phones are yet to materialize. But some of these newcomers aren’t the only ones who’re trying to game the system. Well established and known names such as Xiaomi, LeEco, and Asus invite hundreds of “fans” to their press events to create a buzz about their products. Many of these fans go to the event only to receive the promised free goodies. The lack of regulations could be blamed for how easy it has become for any startup to make bizarre claims in an attempt to trick people into purchasing their products.
