So about 4 years ago I wrote a post about how Micromax wasn't ready for leading the Indian smartphone without the slightest intention of following it up. Heck, I had forgotten I even had this blog. But here we are, 4 years later, with my initial rant turning out to be a decently accurate prediction.
I still remember when the Micromax Canvas 3 was released. It had created a tremendous buzz in the market for being the cheapest smartphone offering 720p display. Although the quality of everything on the device was mediocre at best, it had still done its job of putting the company 2nd only to behemoth Samsung in terms of market share. Since then, Micromax released upgrades to canvas series. It may also have released a number of devices since, but nobody took much notice of it.
There are two ways people encounter something new; one is if the product is where people are, i.e. online or product is so great that people eventually notice it anyways. Every single brand that has a good market share today went with the first one. I don't think anyone can remember the last time they saw an ad of Micromax or Karbonn or Lava online. Whereas it is highly likely that you have already heard about the device that is rumoured to be maybe possibly released by Apple, Samsung, Xiomi or the lot a year later. Reason? Everywhere you go online, Amazon, Flipkart, FB, YT, these companies have banners, pop up ads, sponsored videos and other marketing gimmicks. And as annoying as it is to have an ad pop up while you enjoy cold-blooded destruction of a chef by Gordon Ramsay, it does the trick.
And even if they wanted to go the second way, they didn't do a very good job of it. The most specked out phone you can buy from Micromax today is Micromax Infinity N12 (there is nothing infinity or 12 about it!) which has below par specs by 2019 standards. Back when these companies were doing well, instead of investing heavily in R&D they decided to keep their model of importing generic phones from China and rebranding them as their own. As the stock of outdated phones grew and now market leaders Xiomi etc stepped in with, surprise surprise, Chinese phones which were not only better but significantly well marketed, the so-called Indian phone companies fell out of favour.
Today, nobody in their right mind would recommend devices from the Indian mobile companies. They don't even have the USP of being Indian since Samsung and Xiomi already have set up manufacturing plants in India. So how these companies survive over the next few years will be interesting to see.
I still remember when the Micromax Canvas 3 was released. It had created a tremendous buzz in the market for being the cheapest smartphone offering 720p display. Although the quality of everything on the device was mediocre at best, it had still done its job of putting the company 2nd only to behemoth Samsung in terms of market share. Since then, Micromax released upgrades to canvas series. It may also have released a number of devices since, but nobody took much notice of it.
There are two ways people encounter something new; one is if the product is where people are, i.e. online or product is so great that people eventually notice it anyways. Every single brand that has a good market share today went with the first one. I don't think anyone can remember the last time they saw an ad of Micromax or Karbonn or Lava online. Whereas it is highly likely that you have already heard about the device that is rumoured to be maybe possibly released by Apple, Samsung, Xiomi or the lot a year later. Reason? Everywhere you go online, Amazon, Flipkart, FB, YT, these companies have banners, pop up ads, sponsored videos and other marketing gimmicks. And as annoying as it is to have an ad pop up while you enjoy cold-blooded destruction of a chef by Gordon Ramsay, it does the trick.
And even if they wanted to go the second way, they didn't do a very good job of it. The most specked out phone you can buy from Micromax today is Micromax Infinity N12 (there is nothing infinity or 12 about it!) which has below par specs by 2019 standards. Back when these companies were doing well, instead of investing heavily in R&D they decided to keep their model of importing generic phones from China and rebranding them as their own. As the stock of outdated phones grew and now market leaders Xiomi etc stepped in with, surprise surprise, Chinese phones which were not only better but significantly well marketed, the so-called Indian phone companies fell out of favour.
Today, nobody in their right mind would recommend devices from the Indian mobile companies. They don't even have the USP of being Indian since Samsung and Xiomi already have set up manufacturing plants in India. So how these companies survive over the next few years will be interesting to see.
