Lenovo has forayed into the Indian handset market with the launch of five smartphones, a move the industry believes is the natural progression for the PC maker.
The company is banking on the rising smartphone market in the country and has aspirations to emerge as the leader.
On Thursday, the world’s second largest personal computer-maker launched five smartphones with prices ranging from Rs 6,499 to Rs 28,499. The company expects the Android-based (Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread) handsets to help it lead on the technology front.
“India is one of the first markets outside of China, where we are launching these smartphones. One is, of course, the market opportunities. The other is the eco-system that will revolve around the four screens (TV, computer, mobile and tablet) and we are foraying into the handset segment with a vision for the future,” said Lenovo India Managing Director Amar Babu R.K.
The Chinese firm, which had acquired IBM’s personal computer division in 2005, would also be launching these products simultaneously across four other markets such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Russia.
EMERGING MARKET
“For Lenovo, this is a natural extension of its basic products. The company can use its existing channels and marketing network to tap the market and build up a considerable presence,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, Strategist & Head of Research, SMC Global Securities Ltd. At present, Lenovo is the second largest seller of handsets in China with 11.2 per cent (Q2 CY2012) market share.
According to independent industry data, the present smartphone market in India is at 18 million pieces and expected to rise to 36 million in the next four years. “The market for mobile phones is saturated at feature level, but at the smartphone level there is still a lot of space for growth,” Amar Babu said.
Globally also, the smartphone market is just emerging, Lenovo Mobile Internet Digital Home Vice-President J.D. Howard said, adding that of the total six billion phones in the world, just 900 million are smart phones.
Lenovo is also looking to tie up with GSM operators for bundling of services, while it would take a call on launching CDMA handsets depending on the market conditions.
The company will also launch phones that support Windows 8, Microsoft’s latest version of its Windows operating system.