Showing its support for the ‘Make In India Week’, Amazon India today has put a ‘Make in India’ store which will according to the company showcase products that are manufactured in India, including products from hundreds of Indian and International brands. This initiative will be taken forward and be seen on Amazon’s US web page too.
The United States based company revealed that it will feature over 6000 products across categories to its users under the ” Make in India” store.
“The Amazon platform, with innovations such as Easy Ship, Fulfillment by Amazon and Global Selling, can serve as a strong enabler for Indian manufacturers artisans, and businesses to reach customers not only in India but also across the globe. We are very excited to support the Make In India week with several initiatives on both Amazon.in and Amazon.com. Make in India connects with our mission to transform how India buys and sells and we are thrilled that it will provide further impetus to Indian manufacturing allowing customers globally to access Indian innovations and creations,” Amit Agarwal, vice-president and country head, Amazon India, said in a statement.
The Make in India week, a business expo to promote manufacturing in India, commences in Mumbai today, and Amazon along with other e-retailers stand to gain from the growth of manufacturing of smartphones and consumer gadgets in India.
In line with the enthusiastic ‘Make in India’ initiative that was kickstarted by Narendra Modi in September 2014, the latest to join the bandwagon is Asus. The Taiwanese Smartphone manufacturer has declared that they will start manufacturing smartphones locally, in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh.
This is a great move by the company as it will christen them into the highly competitive Indian Smartphone market. They ambitiously aim to produce 1.5 lakh phones by the end of this financial year, thereby contributing to 80% of the sales in India, as per reports.
Asus India Country Manager (System Business Group) Peter Chang told PTI:
“India offers us a huge opportunity as smartphone penetration is just 10 per cent. We are excited to announce our local manufacturing facility that will cater to the growing demands of the market,”
Asus isn’t the only one aiming high in the subcontinent. Seeing that India is likely to take over the global Smartphone market in the next few years by throwing USA off its currently held no. 2 position of being one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world.
“We are aggressively targeting the Indian market. We aim to achieve five per cent market share in the country by next year.”
Keeping this information in mind, we had earlier told you that Xiaomi, Huawei and Motorola were just some companies that had already begun making their handsets in India and are hoping to make grand profits given the exponential growth the country has, backed by the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
‘Make in India’ is an initiative that was started back in September 2014 by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. The primary objective of this initiative is to create manufacturing firms within India to create more job opportunities and enhance the skills of the people of India across different sectors like automobile, aviation, biotechnology, defence manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, ports, railways, textile and much more. With this initiative, the Government of India hopes to bring in high-quality standards and minimise the impact on the environment.
The scope and potential, the breadth and length of infrastructure and related developments is very huge in India: PM @narendramodi
Many companies are in support of the Make in India campaign. Companies from China like Alibaba and Xiaomi showed their full backing for the project. Alibaba Chairman said, “We are excited about India. We are excited about Make in India and Digital India.” Xiaomi President Lin Bin too, showed his support and stated, “We have some big plans for India. We fully support Make in India.”
In response to the Make in India call, The United Kingdom announced in January, about its campaign to forge collaborations with Indian companies. Dubbed as the ‘Great Collaboration’, it will be the first partnership between UK’s BP Petroleum company and India’s Reliance Industries Limited for developing and producing energy. The UK and the Indian Prime Ministers have already appreciated the financial ties between the two countries.
Many companies have started putting up manufacturing houses in India. Celkon, one of the leading cellphone players, is right now in the planning process of setting up its manufacturing firm in Medchal, Telangana. IT Minister, KT Rama Rao, said the manufacturing business unit will be set up within a few days after June and will begin with four production lines, and will eventually increase its capacity to higher levels.
Celkon Plant in Medchal, Telangana
Similarly, Foxconn Technology, who is one of the world’s largest contract makers of electronic products, is trying to develop 10-12 facilities in India, including factories by 2020. The Taiwan-based tech giant said that the company is in talks to manufacture Apple iPhones in India. This could lower the price on the world’s No.3 smartphone market where the US firm trails Samsung Electronics and local players.
Mercedes-Benz will be doubling its annual capacity in India to 20,000 units, thanks to the Make in India project. India will also be the first market to receive the GLA entry SUV outside of Germany.
“India is one of the focus markets for Mercedes-Benz internationally, and with the addition of a new plant, we are getting future ready,” said company India MD & CEO Eberhard Kern. The plant was inaugurated by Maharastra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar. With the addition of the GLA SUV to the assembly line, the company now makes six models locally which include C-, E-, S-Class sedans and the ML- and GL-Class SUVs. The CLA entry sedan will be added to the local assembly list later this year while the A- and B-Class models come in after that.
On a smaller scale, Amity scientists have developed a 100% safe, pure and indigenous herbal colours with absolutely no synthetic or harmful additives, in a bid to contribute towards Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. “The herbal colours indigenously produced at Amity, when used extensively in all the industries, will herald a revolution in the country, which is reeling under the pressure of products loaded with synthetic components and chemicals,” said Harsha Kharkwal, faculty at Amity University.
In February 2015, Huawei opened a new research and development (R&D) campus in Bengaluru. It had invested $170 million to establish the research and development centre. In February 2015, Hitachi said it was committed to the initiative. It said that it would raise its employees in India from 10,000 to 13,000, and it would try to boost its revenues from India from ¥100 billion in 2013 to ¥210 billion. It said that an auto component plant will be set up in Chennai in 2016.
This initiative looks very promising. It is understandable that many more companies will join in, soon.This can create a lot of job opportunities here in India and improve the economic well-being of its masses.
Let us see how the campaign shapes up in the future.
You can also follow Make in India YouTube campaign here.
The Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day speech, shared his vision to make the country a technology hub. He hopes for an India where government services can be delivered through the creation of technological infrastructure. Giving a push to his Make in India campaign, Modi will sit down with top officials of the two leading tech powerhouses, LG and Samsung, to set up a manufacturing unit in India. The establishment of their manufacturing plants will stimulate the production of smartphones in India.
Minister of Communication and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, confirmed about the meeting with the South Korean companies, saying, “Earlier, I had personally met senior executives of these companies and we expect something concrete now.” Modi will have a talk with Samsung Electronics’ President and Head, JK Shin and LG’s Global CEO and Vice-Chairman, Bon-Joon Koo. LG India’s Managing Director stamped the ties to some extent stating Modi’s visit will enhance bilateral ties.
How LG and Samsung’s Participation will Make a Difference
LG and Samsung are the two front runners in the smartphone race whose products are appreciated worldwide. Not to forget, these firms have a strong foothold in the smartphones domain as well as the semi-conductors arena. Samsung manufactures Exynos chips equipped on the Galaxy S6 series, and if the company sets up a plant on the Indian soil, smartphones will become a lot cheaper than their current launch price.
For now, only 74% of the Indians own a mobile and considering the large size of the Indian population, there is still a massive number of people who are yet to own mobiles. Modi aims to reach that 26% residing in the rural area with cheaper phones produced on our homeland. He aims to connect India through its length and width by 2019. The Prime Minister has sanctioned Rs. 113,000 crore fund for the Digital India project.
Investment in technological infrastructure will lead to a speedy growth in the economy. It will also help in bringing better, technology-aided education to the children of India, thereby forging a promising future of the country.
HTC was one of the most iconic brands in India a couple of years ago. Similar to Nokia, HTC went through rough waters that had seen them backing off from the Indian market altogether. The Taiwan based company had numerous reasons for its losing market standing and has distanced itself from the Southeastern Asian country for more than a year now. According to a fresh report, however, HTC is seeking to make a comeback to the developing countries smartphone market.
HTC Wildfire E1
One of the many reasons why HTC had to bail out of India was its pricing and marketing. The smartphone from the company was known to be premium built on even a few of its mid-range devices, however, this, in turn, couldn’t justify their high prices. In comparison, at the time companies like Xiaomi and OnePlus were just emerging that targeted the low to mid and top tier markets respectively. Both companies had aggressively priced their handsets which struck a right chord with the Indian audience. Hence, the companies and its overpriced products felt rather obsolete in value.
HTC Desire 12
Now, a brand new report from sources close to the company revealed that HTC will arrive in the Indian market in August. Inone Technology distribution network will be partnered with the company for the launch of its new flagship series. It is expected that HTC will launch new smartphones in the next few days or weeks with a couple of new features. It is exciting to see brands that were popular in India make a comeback to the market. The new launch would mark the first official release in a little more than a year.
HTC needs to be prepared to face stiff competition as the smartphone industry is more populated than when it had originally pulled out. Samsung’s A series of smartphone, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo are giants in the Indian market so HTC has their work cut out for them. Unfortunately, information regarding the upcoming HTC devices is still sparse. Stay tuned for more information which is expected to be available in the arriving days.
Xiaomi with it ever-expanding portfolio of products never ceases to amaze us. Earlier this week, it announced the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro smartphones for the Indian market which were originally launched in China. Likewise, the company is crowdfunding a tiny Android Go smartphone in its home country, which we would love to see in India as well. The handset is a part of Xiaomi’s sub-brand Qin and it is dubbed the “Multi Parent AI Assitant/ 4G phone” [literal translation ;)]. Nevertheless, the device has a distinguishing design and is offered in a multitude of attractive colours.
Xiaomi Qin Android Go Smartphone
The front of the Xiaomi smartphone features a 5.05-inch display that has negligible bezels on all sides except for the chin which is comparatively thicker. Surprisingly, the display of the handset has an aspect ratio of 22.5:9 which is slowly gaining popularity in mid-range and high-end devices like the Sony Xperia 1 and Motorola One Vision. Besides, the display has resoultion of 1440 x 576 px.
In terms of dimensions and weight, the Xiaomi Qin smartphone measures 132.6 x 55.4 x 8.6 mm and tips the scale at a meagre 105 g. The rear panel of the smartphone is made out of hard plastic and the users have the choice to opt for their favourite colour out of four different vibrant options. The rear panel has a neat layout as it only houses the company branding and a single camera along with an LED flash.
The left side of the Xiaomi Qin Android Go smartphone houses the power button and volume rocker as seen on various modern handsets. Additionally, it also has a small button on the left which can be used to toggle the built-in AI voice assistant. It is powered by a 2100 mAh battery which can be charged via the bottom-mounted USB Type C port.
Another notable feature of the smartphone is the presence of an IR blaster that can be used to control different appliances wirelessly in an office or personal living space. Connectivity options on the device include 4 G VoLTE, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2. Details about the chipset or processor on the smartphone are currently available.
In terms of operating system, it runs on Go variant of Android 9.0. For readers who do not know, Android Go is a scaled-down variant of standard Android and it is purpose-built for devices with less powerful hardware. According to substandard Chinese translation, it can run a total of 6 applications including WeChat and has a customised UI which helps for easy navigation.
Xiaomi Qin Quick Specs
Display: 5.05 inch, 1440 x 576, 22.5:9 aspect ratio
Dimensions: 132.6 x 55.4 x 8.6 mm
Weight: 105g
Battery Capacity: 2100 mAh, 5V2A
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, USB C
OS: Android 9 GO
Other Features: IR Blaster, AI Assistant
Rear Camera: Single Sensor, LED Flash
Front Camera: N/A
Storage: 32 GB
Price: 499 CNY (around Rs 5000)
Why This Device Makes Perfect Sense For Indians?
Taking the fact into consideration, more than half of the mobile owners in India still own a feature phone that is usually limited to 2G connectivity. With the rapid adoption of 4G, the said user base undoubtedly would want to move on to smartphones that have better connectivity options and a lot more features at an economical price point. This is where the Xiaomi Qin smartphone can settle and bridge the gap.
Noteworthy, another smartphone from Xiaomi, the Redmi Go that features a front camera, bigger battery and a lower price tag than Qin is already available in India. Therefore, in order to see worthwhile sales performance, the latter needs to be priced aggressively. We feel Rs 2500 to Rs 3500 would be the sweet spot for it, given Xiaomi decides to bring it to India.
Readers interested in checking the official website can do so by clicking here.
What according to you should be the right price for this smartphone? Let us know in the comments below!
Samsung is currently the number one smartphone manufacturer in the world. Clearly, the company also has a very strong grip in the densely populated Indian mobile phone market. Even though the largest smartphone maker in India is Xioami, Samsung has held the top spot in the premium smartphone segment. But, for the last three quarters, the company lost its title to the Chinese smartphone maker, OnePlus which rode to the top on back of the OnePlus 6 and the OnePlus 6T.
A fresh report published by Counterpoint research reveals the newly launched Galaxy S10 lineup has helped the company regain its pole position. For starters, Counterpoint is a market research company dedicated to delivering intelligence on technology trends across the globe. According to the report, the top three premium brands including Samsung, OnePlus and Apple accounted for 90 per cent of the premium segment shipments in Q1 of 2019 as compared to 95 per cent in Q1 of 2018.
The report states the remaining 10% of the stake is shared companies like Huawei which have gained traction based on the Mate and P Seriesof smartphones. It also highlights that Apple is also striving to stop its decline which is primarily due to excessive pricing. On the brighter side, as the company starts local assembly of certain iPhone models which is expected to happen soon, it will be relieved of the 20% import duty that the Indian government collects for each unit.
The Counterpoint report exhibits if Apple passes on some of the price benefits to the consumers, it is expected to see a significant rise in its sale. The top selling premium smartphones in the Q1 2019 are as follows:
Samsung has certainly managed to race ahead of the competition in the Q1, however, it will be interesting to see what the results are like once the highly anticipated OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro launch. The said devices are set to launch on the 14th of May.
Taiwanese smartphone maker, HTC has seen better days in the past accrediting to its software and hardware innovations. Noteworthy, it was the worlds first company to launch a dual camera smartphone, the EVO 3D. However, in an economy like India which is majorly driven by the specification to price ratio, HTC failed to persist and ceased its operations in the country last year. Reportedly the company is planning to make a comeback in India but in a completely different convention. The company is in talks with three Indian OEMs, Micromax, Lava and Karbonn which will license its brand name and will pay a royalty in return.
Why Would Indian Companies Want To License HTC’s Brand Name?
In the last couple of years, the market share of Indian smartphone companies has fallen drastically. According to reports, Indian companies had a 40% market share in the year 2015 which had fallen to single-digit last year. Clearly, this is due to fierce competition from Chinese companies like Xiaomi and Oppo. The aforementioned Indian brands are currently focusing on feature phones and entry-level smartphones in order to thrive this deluge.
Products offered by HTC in the past were mostly targetted towards the premium and mid-range segment. Assuredly the company had the brand value which pulled the customers to its offerings. Hence, Indian brands with the help of HTC’s brand name can tap into these segments which they are currently incapable of.
It is unannounced what products will be sold under HTC’s brand name in India. Nevertheless, the portfolio will certainly include smartphones and it can also incorporate tablets and smart home products. One smartphone that the company can launch in the country is the HTC Exodus which is the world’s first blockchain smartphone. Another product that the company can launch is the 5G hub which as the name suggests is 5G compatible device. It is an attractive looking smart home gadget that has a built-in screen and runs on Android OS. Information about other products is expected to follow soon which we will keep you posted on.
Samsung and Xiaomi together constitute 45% of the smartphone market in India in Q3 of 2017. The smartphone grew 37% (quarter on quarter) and 18% (year on year) to temporarily surpass the US for the first time ever as the second largest smartphone market in the world. The number one spot i still retained by China. According to Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service, India’s mobile phone shipments reached an all time high of 84 million in 2017 thanks to a strong sale period of both feature and smartphones.
Samsung and Xiaomi together contributed to almost 45% of the smartphone market. This is the first time since 2012, that the top two brands have reached this level of combined share, signalling that key brands are ramping up their presence in India. Additionally, the quarter was marked with return to growth for local handset players such as Micromax and Lava in the smartphone segment.
Affordable mid-end segment (Rs. 10,000 – Rs. 15,000) was the fastest growing segment thanks largely to a strong performance of Xiaomi which contributed to almost half of the shipments. Three of the top five best selling smartphones in India were from Xiaomi alone.
Commenting on the findings, Karn Chauhan, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research said,
India continues to be an attractive destination for handset OEMs. With strong smartphone growth and a sizeable feature phone market for at least three to four years, OEMs in India can target a diverse set of audiences. This has allowed a number of OEM’s to still realise double digit growth in the feature phone segment in spite of being absent in the smartphone segment.
Chinese smartphone brands have a third consecutive year when their market share is over 50% in India. Indian brands like Micromax and Lava grew 41% and 24% (quarter on quarter), respectively, in the smartphone market after recovering from their all-time low performance after demonetization in 2016. Micromax Bharat 2 was the bestselling phone in the sub-Rs 5000 segment. Xiaomi, iTel, Oppo, Vivo, and OnePlus were the fastest growing smartphone brands during the third quarter which is largely due to the festive sales and attractive discounts.
Because of the strong performance of Apple, OnePlus, and Samsung, the premium segment (above Rs. 30,000) grew record three times (year on year) during Q3 of 2017.
Last week, reports coming out of Samsung’s manufacturing and assembly units in China brought to us news of a new beast of a phone arriving in the coming months. The reports talked of Samsung working on a new extra-large smartphone which, if sources are to be believed,will be called the Galaxy A9 Pro.
And now it looks like this elder sibling of the China bound A9 looks to be more real than it was first thought to be. Latest reports suggest the Galaxy A9 Pro was imported to India for testing. The A9 Pro, as it had been reported earlier, is listed with a 6-inch display, the same as the regular Galaxy A9 that was launched late last year for Chinese markets.
The A9 Pro is expected to be powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 652 processor. The phone will reportedly also include 4GB RAM and 64GB inbuilt storage. The hardware will interact with the user through Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) out of the box. A battery pack of 4000mAh will power the Pro.
The pricing for the device as listed on import export tracking website Zauba is $360 (about Rs.24,000) , but owing to Zauba’s track record so far, this pricing source should not be considered too reliable.
For those of you who don’t know, Moto Maker is a customization programme, that gives you the option to choose from a variety of back panels and device colours to give it your own personal touch. You can also engrave your initials or a message on the back side of your phone or a customized splash screen.
Instead, Motorola has launched a contest to celebrate the company’s batwing logo turning 60. Motorola has come up with a new promotional campaign, tagged as #MyMotoLogo. The contest is easy to understand. Six people who come up with the most creative Moto Logo will be declared winners and will be entitled to take home a Moto X with them, with their customized logo inscribed on it.
To participate in the #MyMotoLogo contest, contestants can recreate Moto batwing logo in the form of a doodle, installation, arrangement, rangoli, graffiti, illustration or graphic design and upload the logo. The entries can be submitted entries via any of the three social networking platforms -Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with #MyMotoLogo tag to Motorola India. (Users can also send the logo to the official dedicated website.) The contest will end on 25th June. You can click here for more information.
We don’t know if Motorola’s customisation program will be available in India anytime soon. Till then, we suggest you get your creative juices flowing for the #MyMotoLogo contest!
India’s booming smartphone market is attracting the attention of many international brands. Chinese labels Xiaomi, Oppo and Gionee have already strengthened their position in the smartphone arena, and now Meizu has decided to try its luck in one of the most lucrative markets of the world. The China-based consumer electronics firm has announced its official debut date in India as May 18.
As you can see, the post reads “Are you ok?” and below it has unveiled its arrival date in India. There is no mention of the phone that will make it to India, but Meizu is anticipated to start its journey with two of the popular products in Blue Charm series, the Meizu M1 Note and the Meizu M1 Mini. The former one is priced at $220 (approx. Rs. 14,000), while the later cost $112 i.e. around Rs 7,000.
For now, there is no concrete information about the devices coming to India, and these are just speculations. But seeing its large catalog of low-end and mid-range products, it is certain to put a dent on the significant market share enjoyed by Xiaomi and OnePlus in the country. Initially, Xioami had seized all the attention for its highly specced, low price handsets, but today many Chinese companies have jumped into the Indian battleground and have intensified the competition. It will be interesting to see if Meizu can lure the budget sensitive Indian customers and secure a place for itself.
Skype has announced a limited time offer for its users in India to call phone numbers in the US and Canada free of cost. The announcement has come shortly after the company introduced its real time Translator Preview programme and is valid for new and existing Skype users until the 1st of March 2015. Skype India page states that, “Yes, that’s right — for a limited time only all calls from India to mobiles and landlines in the United States and Canada are completely free. And you don’t even need to do anything other than start calling”.
Users can now sign up via the Skype India home page as the offer is already live. All you have to do is log in to your Skype account and just dial the number from your phone dialer to call anyone in the US and Canada. The offer could be a ploy to garner more popularity with Indian users which could turn out to be significant hub for its Skype Translator programme.
Notably, the offer also comes a day after Microsoft’s collaboration with Amazon India for its own exclusive store which sells a wider array of its products on the e-commerce website.
Well, the ‘Flagship Killer’ has landed in India. The 2nd December event created much excitement among the smartphone lovers. However, the fact that you need to get your hands on an invite to get the OnePlus One has left many confused about how to get the same.
Although, Amazon and OnePlus have integrated their account services to make it simple for those with invites to purchase their smartphones. There is still some confusion about the invite system. Well, the company has been known for its mismanaged marketing strategy, however, this time around it seems everything is going smooth.
If you are still wondering how to get hold of an invite, there are quite a few ways to get it. Read on for more:
1. Amazon Contests
Amazon and OnePlus are currently running a couple of contests to help you grab the One. Amazon users can earn invites by spotting and clicking on the ‘One in a 1000’ contest across the internet, including select social media websites. A total of 1,000 users that spot and click these contest ads will win an invite. Another method to win one of the 4,000 invites runs involves simply connecting your Facebook account to Amazon India.
2. OnePlus Accounts
The company will be running marketing or engagement events on its social media, same as it did in other countries, through which it will give out invites. So make sure you like or follow the official accounts on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.
3. Get a Friend To Buy One
Same as in other countries, anyone who has managed to get a OnePlus One smartphone will also receive an invite that can be shared with friends, family or anyone. These invites are valid typically up to 3 and 6 weeks of purchase.
4. OnePlus Forum
The website forum is the most famous and efficient way to get an invite. Users who join the OnePlus One forum can either win an invite via an engagement event or contest, or through other forum members distributing the invites. However, there is no way to check the authenticity of the forum members giving out the invites.
Need to know more about the OnePlus One before you start hunting for invites? Watch our full review here:
Cupertino-based giant Apple is reportedly planning to release the new iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 in India today. The company launched the iPad Air 2 as well as the iPad mini 3 last month. Popular PC vendor ITNET Infocom lately confirmed (via Twitter) that the new Apple iPad series slates will hit the Indian stores today. “iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 coming tomorrow,” said the ITNET Twitter handle.
The company has already announced the pricing for the products in India. The iPad Air 2 will be available at Rs. 35,900 for the 16 GB Wi-Fi only model, while the iPad mini 3 will sell at a price of Rs. 28,900. The iPad Air 2 models with only Wi-Fi comes in 64 GB and 128 GB of storage variants, and will cost Rs. 42,900 and Rs. 49,900 respectively. Besides this, the Wi-Fi only iPad mini 3 models with 64 GB and 128 GB of storage capacities will cost Rs. 35,900 and Rs. 42,900 respectively.
Apple India home page has been updated with iPad Air 2 photos saying ‘Change is in the Air.’ Previously, the page showed the iPhone 6 series images since its official launch in September. Now, the change in Apple’s home page has given way to the speculations that the new iPad series tablets might get released this weekend.
The new refreshed Air is 18 percent thinner with a thickness of just 6.1 mm. As expected, it is powered by the new Intel A8x Chip, a 2nd gen 64-bit architecture, which is 12 times faster than the current one. Apple claims that the graphics performance of the new iPad Air 2 is 180 times faster, which gives console-like gaming experience on the iPad Air 2.
iPad mini 3
On the other hand, the iPad mini 3 is a minor upgrade over last year’s iPad mini 2. It features a 7.9-inch (2048×1536 pixels) display and is powered by a 64-bit A7 dual-core processor paired with M7 co-processor and 1 GB of RAM. It also features a 5-megapixel rear camera, 1.2 megapixel front camera, a battery that is good enough to last 10 hours, and a TouchID sensor. On the software front, it too runs on iOS 8.1.
