The Hindu Business Line : Smart phones losing elitist tag

"E-mail addiction is seen amongst a variety of people - from students to entrepreneurs and even mid-level managers who want to be more productive," said Mr Sumeet Gugnani, Business Head, Windows Mobile and Mobility, Microsoft Corporation India, in the city recently.

This e-mail addiction is good news for handset makers and distributors who now expect the insignificant smart phone share to double.

Sales to double

According to one distributor, last year smart phones comprised 0.3 per cent of the market in units and 1 per cent in value. (Value will be three times that of the unit as the average pricing of each smart phone is high).

Sales will be 0.7 per cent of the total sales of phones in the country this year, and 2.1 per cent in market value, said Mr Rajiv Babbar, Director, 4G Mobiles Retailing and Broadband Services.

The difference between Blackberry and these new push e-mail capable phones is that the latter do not need an exclusive server to manage mail on mobiles, nor are they tied to an operator.

E-mails can be directed over an existing Outlook server to these smart phones.

The variety of the range of smart phones and their scalable storage (up to 4 GB) are other advantages to the user, said Mr Gugnani.

International handset makers have forayed into the country this year to cash in on the world's fastest growing telecom market.

Makers such as Hewlett Packard, I-mate, Dopod, O2 have entered the country over the last year.

Motorola's Q and Nokia's E62 were also released as Blackberry-killers recently, indicating a trend in uptake of high-end phones.

Monopoly

Microsoft's early-mover advantage in the segment cannot be denied. Its dominance in the desktop market will mean it could have a monopoly, said a distributor.

According to a Microsoft spokesperson, one lakh Microsoft OS-based smart phones were sold in the country last year (fiscal 2006, ending July).

Over 5 million phones are sold every month in the country.

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