Now, even people with moderate incomes have can buy smartphones of any brand, if not the top-of-the line ones.
Smartphones are selling like hot cakes as customers can find many brands being introduced in the domestic market. The market is flooded with smartphones, with more than two dozen brands, the names of some which are not even heard of by the general customers. However, because of lack of proper monitoring of quality of such smartphones, consumers are not sure if they are getting their money’s worth.[break]
Are smartphones from all these brands really doing well? Or do they just emerge and then disappear in a short span of time?
“It is true that smartphones are fast-selling items, but all the brands being supplied in the market are not functioning as expected,” said Deepak Malhotra, executive chairman of International Marketing Services, the sole authorized distributor of Samsung mobiles for Nepal.
Global brands like Samsung, Apple, Sony, Nokia LG and HTC are available in Nepal. Likewise, there is no dearth of budget smartphones from Indian brands like Micromax, Karbonn, Colors, Spice, Fly, Cubit, Bird, G’Five, Optima Smart, Vodafone, Aqua Jazz and Lava, among others in the market. Even Nepal-made smartphone named ‘Motif’ has also entered the market.
Among the various brands available, traders say Indian smartphones are gaining ground among customers who want features of more global brands like Samsung, Nokia and Apple at budget prices.
Traders say many smartphone brands are being introduced but they do not last long as people face problems of battery or screen sensitivity after using it for two to three months.
‘Most of the brands are manufactured without much spending in research and development to make them quality and affordable. The producers also don’t check market compatibility before launching the products which will lead to the failure of a brand or a model,” said Malhotra.
Alisa Pradhananga, has similar experience. She bought a smartphone manufactured by an Indian company. The phone is very attractive, has a big screen, and a dual-SIM option, along with other many other features.
“But I am facing problems after having used it for two months.
The answering switch is not activated when the phone rings, it is having big trouble on screen sensitivity,” said Paradhananga.
Like Pradhananga, traders also say that many customers complained that after two to three months of use, they started facing a host of problems from the budget phones. However, Siris Muraraka, director of Pashupati Trade Link, a subsidiary of Murarka Organization, the authorized dealer of Micromax and Karbonn in Nepal, said the brands are doing very well in the Nepali market. “People have understood that Micromax and Karbonn are among the best brands in India and have realized the higher quality despite a lower price tag.
Going by data from Mobile Association of Nepal (MAN), around 200,000 phones are sold monthly in the Nepali market, which is worth from Rs 13 billion to Rs 14 billion. According to Purushottam Basnet, the president of MAN, mobile phones accounts for 70 percent of the total sales of electronic devices here.
The MAN data shows that the demand for smartphones is growing exponentially while demand for feature-phones has dropped drastically as people have started using mobile phones not only for calling purposes but for various other functions.
Vivek Sharma, managing director of Virgin Mobiles, said smartphones have emerged as an alternative to cameras, laptops and even gaming devices.
“People use phones for various activities besides calling, hence the market for features phones is being taken over by smartphones,” said Sharma. Malhotra echoed Sharma and said that even illiterate and elderly people have started using smartphones which reflects how featurephones are getting replaced.
It is true that traders are enjoying exponential growth in sales of Indian brands and many brands whose names are not much heard. Malhotra said that traders are focusing more on other brands rather than global brand as the profit margin is very high in case of other brands. The price of smartphones starts from Rs 7,000 in the Nepali market.
According to dealers, popularity of smartphones is mainly due to user-friendly functionality, the open-source nature which allows designers to develop applications and distribute freely on the web, availability of numerous applications and multi-tasking functions, among others. Dealers expect smartphones to replace feature-phones within the next few years as they are competitively priced and come with loads of attractive features.
Related story
Smart Telecom's SmartCell opens Smart Centre in Putalisadak
