?Ye kaisi samajhdari? (what is wise about it?)? asks a perplexed father whose son has bought a new dual-SIM phone in the latest Samsung mobile advertisement. The son, an obedient small town boy played by Aamir Khan, then explains to him the benefits of dual-SIM phones, which help him retain his old number while switching to a better tariff plan on the second SIM card. Dual-sim, and now even triple-sim phones, are no novelty for Indians. But the big boys of the mobile business? Nokia, Samsung, LG and Motorola?have hit the gas now, two-three years after low-cost Indian manufacturers ran away with this technology to carve a niche for themselves in the Indian mobile bazaar. Such has been the popularity of the multi-SIM handsets that market research shows it is the fastest growing segment in handset sales in India. And, experts feel global brands couldn’t have afforded to stay out of the segment any more.
?The India mobile handsets market saw a unique trend of multi-SIM phones capturing 38.5% (from less than 1% in 2009) of the market during the second quarter of 2010. This could be attributed to several new service providers responding with highly competitive tariff plans to a price-sensitive mobile telephony user market,? says Naveen Mishra, lead telecom analyst, IDC India. Jaideep Ghosh, executive director, KPMG Advisory Services, shares the sentiment: ?India is a low-cost mobile phone market with extremely high number of prepaid connections, besides being a high-churn market. You have so many options in tariff plans and extreme competition between networks that people end up with more than one SIM for different uses. Apart from that, since number portability has still not kicked off, dual-SIM phones serve the purpose to a large extent,? he says.
It is well known that this trend of dual and triple SIM handsets has been a major feature of the local Indian low-cost mobile handset brands. However, MNC players did not seem to have considered it as a part of their already established and popular portfolio in the Indian market till recently. And did it take some shock treatment at the hands of these ?smaller? Indian brands to push the big fish into this segment! Consider this: as per IDC’s market research, the number of emerging vendors in India?s burgeoning mobile handsets market grew to 35 and they together garnered 33.2% of total sales (shipments) for the first time during the April-June 2010 quarter, which surprised quite a few. What it also did was to shake the MNC brands enough to make them realise that the smaller fish, together, can be a threat to them. ?The global brands did not seem to anticipate that these Indian players would grow and proliferate at this scale and would capture such a share of the market. The respect for these companies came quite late in the day. And these dual-sim launches, one after the other, by big brands now is in recognition of the growing force of Indian brands,? says Ghosh. He adds that MNC brands often slow down on market-specific innovation as they have to cater to a global market and not just one particular region. ?With the technology that they possess, they could have launched phones in this segment long ago. It seems to be more a matter of having a global focus and the delay in recognising the needs of particular markets,? he says.
Manufacturers, on the other hand, agree that they have entered late, but believe that their brand name and reputation will give them a good space in this segment, as compared to the smaller Indian manufacturers. ?We admit that it has taken us sometime to launch a dual-SIM handset. However, it is not just innovating first that is critical. Relevant innovation is equally important,? says a Nokia spokesperson, adding that Nokia will be adding more handsets to their dual-SIM portfolio in the coming months. Nokia was considered the biggest loser due to the rapid proliferation of local brands offering useful features like dual SIM at rockbottom prices. According to IDC, Nokia’s market share slid to 36.3% at the end of June this year, from 54% at the end of 2009. While Nokia refuses to comment on market shares and these studies, D Shivakumar, vice-president and managing director, Nokia India, had said in an exclusive interaction with FE in October that the presence of new handset providers was a concern and the firm would re-gain market share with the launch of dual-SIM phones. ?We have been in this market for about 15 years and are a trusted brand. So, we are not looking at any change in our brand identity. However, this market needs innovation and scale. And once we launch the dual-SIM phones, we will regain that market share. At the same time, we would continue to focus on distribution and partnerships with seller,? he had said. Nokia has recently launched two low-cost, dual-sim devices. On the other hand, Samsung has had a string of launches with four new dual-SIM handsets being launched by the company in quick succession in the past couple of months. Samsung, according to IDC?s mobile tracker in Q2, is in second position after Nokia with a market share of 8.2%. ?The dual SIM category has changed the dynamics of mobile telephony in a nation with a subscriber base of over 650 million. We expect the dual SIM portfolio to contribute at least 25% of our full year mobile handset sales this year,? says Ranjit Yadav, director, mobile and IT, Samsung Electronics Pvt Ltd. On the question of low-cost Indian brands walking away with the pie, Yadav says Samsung understands the Indian mobile handset market landscape. ?We will focus on adding innovative features with affordable price points to suit Indian consumers with enhanced features of dual SIM devices,? he says. Apart from Nokia and Samsung, LG and Motorola are also in the segment with handsets complete with features like a QWERTY keypad and touchscreen interface as a part of their dual SIM portfolio.
But the dual SIM duel is not only limited to existing market players. Brands that are entering the mobile manufacturing business are also taking note of the market trends. Take Bharti?s Beetel, a brand that is extremely popular for its landline phones and has just ventured into mobile phone manufacturing. Now, Beetel?s case is a little different as it is not a global conventional handset player, nor is it a local brand that sprung up recently. It is a case of a well-known brand diversifying. Interestingly, Beetel?s entire range of eight handsets has the dual SIM feature, with a triple SIM phone as well. In a battle between lesser-known local Indian brands and MNC manufacturers, Beetel is confident of creating a space for itself. ?Trust in the brand will be key. Beetel is new to mobile phones, but is an established and trusted brand in the telecom space. Globally, in markets such as China and US, the majority market share is with the native handset companies. The trend has come in late in India, but we will see it happening. We, therefore, see these changes as an exciting opportunity to establish our brand in the mobile space, which continues to offer huge market opportunity,? says Vinod Sawhney, ED and CEO, Beetel.
So, do the big brands have it in them to take the challenge back to the local Indian manufacturers? Indian manufacturers seem unperturbed. ?They are quite late in their entry while we are established well enough in this market. When you are established in a category, then your brand’s identity gets associated with it too. We focused on this segment early on, so it is our bread and butter. Also, innovation and adaptation to local market needs is a longish process for them. We have the fast-mover advantage, as we are from the very market we cater to.,? says Rahul Sharma, executive director, Micromax, arguably the market leader among Indian handset manufacturers. Vaibhav Shastri, CEO of Zen Mobiles, another Indian brand, feels that pricing will keep the equation in favour of Indian brands. ?They might offer dual-SIM phones alright, but their products would be priced much higher than ours. For what they would offer just a basic dual-SIM phone, we offer latest multimedia features in our handsets, along with the dual-SIM feature. As brands, they are very big as compared to us. But I don?t think they will be able to match our pricing and that?s why I don?t see their entry into the dual and multi-SIM segment as a threat to brands like ours,? he says.
Ghosh sums up this contention. ?The entry of these brands may not pose a threat to the Indian brands really. It would only happen if they offer same features at similar price points as Indian brands. Average costumers will look for price first and foremost and only the informed ones would consider things like after-sales services. Mobiles are not a big-ticket buy. Also, Indian brands have had a two-year head start in this segment,? he says.
So while makers of every creed hop on to the multi SIM bandwagon and grapple with one another, consumers are in for a treat with highly competitive price points and latest features in dual SIM handsets. With multiple SIM cards becoming popular among Indian mobile users, one is now reminded of another TV advertisement, the vintage Pan Parag ad with the famous punchline, ?Ek se mera kya hoga? (How will I make do with just one?).?