Category: Lets Talk Shop

#LetsTalkShop with Amit Boni from Motorola India

When Motorola departed India in haste, shutting down operations and basically calling it quits, a large chunk of Moto believers were left disheartened. Motorola was always perceived as a quality brand, the real inventor of the mobile phone and an innovation driver.

With Motorola’s global operations in trouble the company took a breather to rework strategies and work towards exciting products says Amit Boni, who now heads Motorola Mobility India’s reenergized operations.

In a very candid and exciting conversation with the man we learnt that the company has inherited a lot of traits from ex-parent Google and the business strategies going forward seem to be well in order.

Motorola really researched the Indian market before returning with its new lineup, and found the Flipkart model to be a success runner and in a price conscious market like India, a steady pricing system.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Amit Boni” author_title=”GM, Motorola Mobility India”]

We wanted to ensure our customers pay one price for our phones throughout India.

[/quote]

Amit says Motorola is keen to begin the relationship when the buyer purchases a Motorola product and will ensure that service is never an issue for the customer. The company has a strong foothold in India for service and Motorola is keen on expanding the service base.

Xiaomi is not a threat, says Amit, we are happy with competition and going forward are ready to provide a better consumer experience. This sort of competition helps us stay grounded he claims, allowing the company to know where they stand.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Amit Boni” author_title=”GM, Motorola Mobility India”]

Xiaomi’s entry in India using Flipkart is a validation of Motorola’s excellent strategy

[/quote]

Motorola wants to bring products to India as fast as they can, and they are really excited for the Moto 360. The Moto 360 will suffice in a market that has seen some disappointing products, says Amit.

While he stayed mum on future products, he smiled through our questions and demand for some exciting news.

Watch the full video below for the juicy bits and a whole list of other questions.

August 10, 2014
#LetsTalkShop with LG’s Amit Gujral

LG has put them selves on the map in the past couple of years. Taken as a company known for “cheap” products, LG has managed to quickly change their public image and their product lineup to match their image.

Amit Gujral, who has spent well over a decade and a half with the company, heads the marketing for the Mobile division of LG and sits out of the large and lavish Greater Noida HQ which also doubles up as a factory for home appliances.

The LG G3 is being pushed by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan as an “Endorser”, Amit Gujral claims the campaign is simply to push a “legend by a legend”. The company is not interested in playing a catch up game, and wants to go beyond the thinking of its competition.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Amit Gujral” author_title=”Marketing Head – LG Mobile India”]

We don’t want to play catch up!

[/quote]

LG is also working on a tablet that they will launch shortly, said Amit coyly. Giving us another opportunity to sit with him to discuss details. The company has understood that there is very little need between a large phone and a tablet for consumption of content.

Amit claims that Social Media availability for a brand is a must, and the trend in the market is more “we” than “me”. LG is available for the consumers on Social Media and is arming up operations to be available in a better fashion.

Software is key and mostly all our phones are running KitKat, from mid to High segment , said Amit. Going forward LG will continue supporting updates for products.

Watch the full video below for the juicy bits.

August 4, 2014
#LetsTalkShop : Asim Warsi Talks Samsung Mobile India

Samsung has been leading the smartphone and tablet race for the past couple of years and this year they don’t want to be left behind. However, the company has been dealing with a lot of flack in India pertaining to the fact that they continue to make devices that are made entirely of Plastic or the fact that India does not see Snapdragon chipsets or LTE enabled devices.

As Vice President, Mobile & IT of Samsung India, Asim Warsi also heads the Korean company’s mobility division.

A difficult man to get hold of, Asim was kind and candid enough to meet us and answer some of our questions for everyone who has been asking them.

“The company is excited about the new Tab S devices because, it is a refinement of Samsung’s tablet series” – he said. Bringing attention, to the high resolution Super Amoled display, the company has managed to make for these devices.

Asim Warsi is very confident about the fact that going forward the company will have 4G devices, and introduced the Tab S series as their first LTE enabled tablets. He was eager to tell us that Samsung is working on a whole slew of 4G enabled devices, and we will see them soon enough.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Asim Warsi” author_title=”Vice President, Mobile & IT, Samsung India“]

We are working on a whole lineup of LTE devices in the coming months

[/quote]

Samsung may work out an arrangement in the near future to maybe offer options between 3G and 4G devices enabling the customer to make his own decisions at the time of purchase.

Asim Warsi says working at Samsung is not scary or daunting, especially not the way I (Bharat Nagpal) would describe it, he says that its a work ethic environment and driven company and hence they have reached where they have in such a short period. He says it’s not about Military Precision its about “Nuclear Precision”.

Watch the full video below for the juiciest bits.

July 12, 2014
#LetsTalkShop : Shubhodip Pal talks Micromax Mobile

An Indian company that a few years ago not spoken of, a brand that most would not associate with, and a manufacturer that was looked down upon, today is one of the most prominent names in the market. It’s never easy when you are talking to the game changers, but the conversation always turns out to be amazing.

This week on #LetsTalkShop a lot is revealed about Micromax. Shobhodip Pal, who is the CMO of Micromax India, delves deep into the problems faced by the company, the relationships within and outside the organisation.

Shubhodip has been with Micromax for 19+ months and has seen, while being instrumental; the company emerge as one of the biggest names in the Indian smartphone and mobile race. One of the busiest men in the organisation Shubhodip always is pepped on energy and throughout the discussion was energised.

According to Shubhodip, Micromax has always and will continue to deliver platforms that they feel the market is ready for. After Android, Micromax felt that the time is right for Windows Phone and once the partnership was announced at the build conference, Micromax was ready to build windows phones and recently delivered the two most important products in the line up.

The company is working on many more products in the lineup of Windows Phone, as this is not a one off for the company, he said.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Shubhodip Pal” author_title=”CMO, Micromax”]

Put it on Record! We will have a 6 inch Windows Phone in the coming months and will many more phones that you will hear about soon.

[/quote]

Micromax has usually ignored Software updates, however; the company is working on rolling out software updates for all their recent phones and promises quick updates going forward thanks to a new software development team that has been assigned.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Shubhodip Pal” author_title=”CMO, Micromax”]

Micromax is working hard to roll out Software updates for most of its models July onwards, with the help of a dedicated team.

[/quote]

The company is also planning to set up software update kiosks across the country, where people can bring in their phones for 30-40 minutes and get an updated phone back. While it seems a little ambitious, Micromax is keen on delivering this and changing the now negative chatter around updates to a positive one.

For reaching as far as he has Shubodip, asks that you remain persistent and are not scared to roll up your sleeves. Are willing to go out of your way to make your organisation shine, and you will grow once you start to believe in the organisation.

The full interview is a must watch so head over to the video for the juicy bits.

June 22, 2014
#LetsTalkShop with HTC India head Faisal Siddiqui

This week in Lets Talk Shop we speak to HTC India country head Faisal Siddiqui. The man has been heading HTC in India for many a years and offers a bit of understanding on how they run shop in India.

The three most important products for HTC this year are the HTC One M8, the HTC Desire 816 and the Desire 210, with the desire 210 being the most unique product from HTC as it is the first HTC phone to have been launched under the Rs. 10,000 price bracket.

Faisal promises that the build quality and HTC lineage follows through even in the Desire 210 while most of the top end features including blink feed, quick OTA updates etc will also be seen in this entry level handset.

The Desire 816 will be getting more colors including a “fuchsia pink” apart from the white, black and orange available presently. He claims that people now like color options when buying smartphones and HTC wants to provide that option.

HTC has always been strong headed about staying away from tablets, and in the past they have remained focused with their smartphones. However, unlike previous meetings, Faisal was keen on not comment on the Tablet agenda for the company , which could mean that HTC may finally be planning tablets or that the new Nexus 8 being made by HTC rumors may be true after all.

HTC is strongly focused on building an experience in India, whether its their concept stores or their service centers. Including basic infrastructure, like Air conditioning, drinking water and a systematic approach HTC feels they can break down the long list of issues that go on with providing service in India.

As far as functioning goes, Faisal does feel that there are some major issues in running shop in India, but getting past them is what makes the challenge interesting.

If you ever want to head/run your own company, Faisal’s advice:

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Faisal Siddiqui” author_title=”HTC India”]

Always hire the right people, if you have the right team, reaching your objective is that much simpler.

[/quote]

June 10, 2014
#LetsTalkShop with Arvind Vohra from Gionee

Gionee’s recent arrival into the mobile market has proved the theory that not all “Chinese Goods” are poorly made. A few recent handsets from the company have proved to be quite the segment leaders. The Gionee S5.5 being the slimmest phone in the world and the Gionee E7 with its impressive camera.

We got a chance to sit down with the Country Head of Gionee in India, Mr. Arvind Vohra , and discuss the company, its operations and its future in a market like India.

We started of by discussing why he chose Gionee as a brand and how important it was to him, the answer seemed quite obvious. He believed in the company and its operations and the fact that he knew the global president personally helped.

Arvind claims that service is a key ingredient to providing a hardware, and as a manufacturer if he doesn’t have the right parts then the whole process is flawed.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Arvind Vohra”]

As a Manufacturer, if i don’t have spare parts, then there is something very wrong.

[/quote]

Operating in a market like India has become much more easier than before, and most of the challenges are overcome by doing everything in the manner its supposed to be done. As far as comparing India with any other market , he feels since he hasn’t worked anywhere else therefore he does not have a benchmark.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Arvind Vohra”]

There are no problems in operating in India, things have become much easier. You can register a company in three weeks, and as long as you do everything right you will be in a good place.

[/quote]

He is very keen on “exploiting OTA” updates and claims that most devices will get the OTA update for KitKat in the coming weeks. Which is avery big thing for the market he is operating in. The Elife series phones will be always be OTA supported as long as the hardware allows.

The next lineup of devices will include LTE phones, as Arvind feels that the country is ready to exploit the resource, and if Gionee can provide hardware then they will.

[quote text_size=”small” author=”Arvind Vohra”]

We like to exploit the OTA updates, and almost all our devices launched recently will get the OTA KitKat Update. Going forward all our devices will launch with LTE, especially since China is transitioning we feel India will soon be ready.

[/quote]

Arvind sees no point of a tablet and fails to understand why people use them, the day he finds the real use of tablets he will start making them.

Watch the full video below and stay tuned for our next #LetsTalkShop

June 2, 2014