Touchy-feely times in mobileland

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: entry-level phones priced as low as Rs 1,000, which provide volumes to manufacturers but margins are wafer thin. Consider this: Nokia, which controls more than 50% of the Indian market and is the market leader globally with 40% share, witnessed the maximum growth in the Asia Pacific region (36.4%). However, its mobile device average selling price (ASP) in the second quarter 2008 was euro 74, down from euro 90 in the second quarter 2007, and down from euro 79 in the first quarter 2008. According to Nokia, the lower year-on-year and sequential ASP was primarily due to a higher proportion of lower priced products and the negative impact of the weaker US dollar.

It is not difficult to guess that high-end phones are the perfect answer to low ASPs. And all players including Nokia have been increasing its focus on the segment. In the second quarter of 2008, Nokia shipped 10 million Nokia N Series and almost 2 million Nokia E Series devices.

Nokia is not alone. Most handset vendors like Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung have lined up smartphones (with price tag starting at Rs 8,000), which can double up as both entertainment and business devices. That’s not all. In anticipation of the iPhone mania, most of the handset makers have lined up launches of premium category phones for this year, with features to either match what the iPhone has to offer or supersede them. On its part, Nokia has preponed the launch of its N96 by almost a month and shifted the venue to India. Samsung too is bringing its smartphone called Omnia in the next month and a half.

Priced in the sub-Rs 35,000 category, Nokia’s N96 is not a touchscreen phone, though it has a 5 mega-pixel camera (compared to iPhone’s 2 mega-pixel). It will also launch a touchscreen phone (on its Series 60 platform) by the year-end.

Asim Warsi, general manager, marketing, Samsung Telecommunications, says, “We plan to launch three models in above Rs 25,000 category by the end of the year. Omnia will be one of them.” On the pricing, he says it will be ‘delightfully expensive’, adding, “No apologies for that as it is a phone beyond price as a consideration.”