Obi Worldphone entered Nepal last week after announcing the appointing of a Jyoti Group subsidiary as the Nepal distributor for its smartphones.  The company also launched two smartphone models here. Ankush Chatterjee, Vice President, Product Marketing and Innovations at Obi Worldphone, talked to Republica about the brand and its future plans in Nepal. Excerpts:

What brought Obi Worldphone to Nepal?
We felt that there was a strong design gap between your premium devices which sell in the market at high prices and the very generic ones sold at very budget prices.
With Obi Worldphone, we wanted to ensure that there was a proper design-led proposition around, a product targeted at that particular segment. We also wanted to ensure that consumers do not necessarily have to compromise on performance just because we are building products for that price range. So what we did was bundle together great design with performance and offered it at attractive prices.

You must have studied the Nepal’s mobile phone market before entering here. What were your findings?
Nepal is a very important market for Obi Worldphone as the market for smartphone here is growing every year. We have felt a great opportunity in Nepali market because consumers don’t want to pay high prices for smartphones but want really good-looking smartphones with better experiences. Nepal is a very fashion-conscious community and there is a strong connection with brands that give out those vibes. We are optimistic that Obi Worldphone can develop itself as a strong brand here and serve the needs of such customers.

What segment of people does Obi Worldphone targets?
Obi Worldphone is a design-led offering and is basically targeted to the youth who have an eye for design, are aspirational and love the aesthetics of a product. Along with design, consumers do not have to compromise with performance either as we have placed industry-leading features in Obi smartphones -- all packed in at an affordable price. We are happy that we have been welcomed well by Nepali customers with necessary feedback.

How have you planned to establish Obi Worldphone as a competitive mobile brand in Nepal as the market already has a strong presence of different other mobile phone brands?
As I said that Obi Worldphone gives a design-led product with better performance and at attractive prices, this will certainly place Obi Worldphone apart from others in the market. Meanwhile, we are also spending on brand-building activities and there is a strong marketing plan in place for Nepal.

You have launched only two models in Nepal?
We have just launched two models from Obi Worldphone namely SF1 and SJ1.5. We will work with these smartphones in the Nepali market for a few months and then bring in our next models. Models that Obi Worldphone has already launched in other markets will soon be introduced in Nepal too.

Where do you see Obi Worldphone in Nepal in the next two years?
We would really like to establish Obi Worldphone as a strong brand in Nepal. Two years means a lot of time in any industry. In the next two years, we at least like to go up to be among the top two players.

 
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