Nokia’s there, everywhere

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New Delhi, Dec 7: Nokia clearly had the early mover advantage in India. After launching its handsets over a decade ago, the Finnish major strengthened its grip on the Indian market like no other player ever did. Or, as some say, like no other player ever would.

A large number of consumers have got so used to Nokia’s interface, designs, price points and easy availability of a wide range of models that a few months ago, its market share almost touched 80%. And now, it is riding high its omnipresence, with the largest distribution reach among all other handset companies.

But then, some consumers are beginning to look for alternatives. Waits at Nokia care centres have become longer, even if the faults are not that big. Others say that incidents of software snags have gone up. Still others are keen to possess handsets that are trendier, stylish, and multi-functional.

And, other companies are beginning to cater to the palate of the discerning consumer. In fact, there is big chase on for India’s growing cellular handset market, projected to be $11 billion in the next 4-5 years, double the current size, with an annual demand of 100 million handsets by 2009-10.

The shift is showing already. Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung are hungry like wolves. They have sharpened product and marketing strategies to go for the kill, or at least fight back the dominance of a bison like Nokia.

They are pushing slim phones, ultra-slim phones, folders, phones with big memory for music, photos and video clips and so on.

The result: Over the past three months, Nokia’s market share has dipped. Its overall share (including CDMA handsets) has fallen to below 60% from about 65% and to about 72% in the case of GSM handsets, which not long ago at about 80%. Worldwide, Nokia commands a market share of just 36%.

Motorola and Sony Ericsson have started to slowly eat into Nokia’s share in India, with Samsung itching to join the pack of hunters.

Apparently, Nokia doesn’t seem to be quite perturbed because its executives say that despite some adjustment in the market, the company’s dominance continues. Nokia may even be able to hold its share around these levels, they say.