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| Edited By: Priyanka Sahay |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 19, 2018, 03:52 AM IST
How is your company being benefited by the exponential rise in smartphone sales in the feature phone dominated Indian market?
India is the fastest growing smartphone market today. Various reports forecast the country emerging as the third largest market in the next three to four years, and since we are a smartphone player this is a key market for us and we are very excited about the opportunity. Feature phones are being replaced by smartphones and the growth is happening across all price points. Even the Rs 30,000 and above price point is growing, so it is a fantastic market for us.
How much market share is HTC targeting with the launch of One Max?
Different reports place us at 4% to 6% market share. Three years back we had less than 1% market share and we are now targeting 15%. Internally, we have a timeline but we don’t comment on that as a company policy. And that will be based on our portfolio. HTC One is our flagship portfolio and then there is Desire family, which is an affordable portfolio. We are launching HTC One now and will launch other Desire products soon. Before the end of the year we will launch two to four Desire phones. The consumer behaviour is evolving and they want aspirational products.
Even an 18 year old aspires to have a phone of this form factor and with EMI it is becoming more affordable. Obviously, this phone costs over Rs 50,000 so there is certain price barrier. We would like to target a wider consumer base and therefore we are trying to reduce the price barrier by offering EMIs.
What are your expansion plans in terms of opening of new outlets?
Today we have around 3,500 to 4,000 outlets and want to expand to 7,000 outlets in the next six months. We used to have 50 service points few years back now we have 250 service points now; we are aiming 400 service points in the next six months. These would be multi-brand outlets.
What are your plans with Windows operating system?
We launched some phones last year and they are still selling in the market, we will continue with that.
What is the status of Fetch tracking device?
We have already launched it. It has to be paired with your device so you will never lose your device. With a Bluetooth it pairs with the device and if I click on the button it will start ringing the device. It will ring even if your phone is on a silent mode. And if I leave this gear and start walking as soon as I go beyond 10 meters then both will start ringing. And then you will get an email on the Google Map that will show where your phone is in case you have lost it.
