Ultra-low-cost handset mart sees fast and furious innovation

There’s a lot of action in the ultra-low cost handset arena both in terms of offering feature-sets at new price-points and innovation to boot

If you thought that the ultra-low-cost (ULC) handset space, defined as that containing mobile phones priced at less than Rs. 5,000, had seen all the excitement that it could stand—you would have been wrong. The latest developments in this niche, which is evolving at a breakneck pace, include what is purported to be the world's first handset with a alpha keypad (a keypad that looks much like the familiar QWERTY one on Blackberry and Nokia phones except this one goes ABCDEF) and a ULC handset that offers push mail and Wi-Fi.

Lava International Ltd. is behind the Alpha keypad, which, as the company puts its, is neither traditional Multi-tap nor QWERTY. Whether consumers will take to this new input form factor remains to be seen but you have to give the company full marks for trying.

After surging to take 14% of the Indian handset mart last year with vanilla ULC phones, the makers of said phones now want more. They're after the business phone segment—currently dominated by BlackBerry and, to a lesser extent, Nokia. Now both will have to worry about desi competition at a substantially lower price point. It is the onslaught of these devices has led to the launch of a handset such as the E63 at Rs. 8949 (Source: The Mobile Store's Web site).

S.N. Rai, Co-Founder & Director, LAVA International Ltd., said, “Last year, we redefined consumer expectations with the introduction of the KKT and A series phones. It took months of rigorous research and consumer trials to conceptualize the Alpha keypad. We feel that this would further redefine the mobile phone market in a big way.”

He continued, “A market study done in the key cities of India to understand usage patterns revealed that there is a large group of consumer who crave business class phones but are not comfortable with using the same.” The research revealed that consumers were finding existing QWERTY keypads to be bothersome.

10% of the handsets sold in India are business phones with QWERTY keypads. With its Alpha series of phones, Lava hopes to grab 10-15% of this slice of the market. Not that it's saying goodbye to QWERTY, that option will also be available.

As SMS is the killer app in our country, the Alpha keypad—Lava believes—will go a long way towards empowering a large segment of mobile users.

Rai added, “We will soon come up with a few more innovations.”

In 2009, Lava started off with phones that combined Dual Sim and 30 day battery backup.

Last month, MVL Telecom had announced that it was the first Indian handset vendor to launch a push mail feature in its mobile handsets. The feature, that was earlier available only on high end models from global brands, would now be available on MVL mobile phones that the company said would be priced around 50% lower. Now, Intex has a phone that adds Wi-Fi, Face-to-Face chat, Dual SIM, and a QWERTY keypad to the mix—the IN 6633.

This Dual SIM (GSM+GSM) QWERTY handset comes with a motion sensor, internal memory of 78 MB and support for up to 8 GB, Nimbuzz, Java, Facebook, and games including M-Sudoku and 5- Sudoku. It supports face-to face video chat on 2G, and has a dual camera to facilitate the same. For a ULC phone it offers Wi-Fi which is a definite plus. Push Mail lets you access 10 mailboxes (on different portals). A black list feature allows you to block 10 callers of your choice for free. A mobile tracker, long lasting battery, security lock for SMS, MMS, phonebook and call history and support for English, Hindi, Urdu and French round off the package.

Shailendra Jha, DGM - Telecom, Intex Technologies (India) Ltd., said, “A feature-packed phone has always been a favorite with the ever-increasing base of Indian consumers. Intex IN 6633 represents a fine balance between features and performance while enhancing the ease of use.”

The street price tag for the IN 6633 is Rs. 4,500.

Meanwhile, there's a new player in the mobile battery space. Okaya Power Group has launched Joos brand lithium (LiON) mobile phone batteries that are compatible with all popular branded handsets. Spotting a demand and supply gap in the market for reliable mobile phone batteries, Okaya has come out with Joos batteries that have been designed with features like built-in protection circuit modules (PCM), preventing overcharging, over-current and short circuits. Along with this, these batteries claim long standby time and a low self discharge rate.

Rajesh Gupta, Co-founder and Director of Okaya Power Ltd., said, “The penetration of branded mobile batteries is low and the products that are available are expensive. 95% of the product availability is in the gray market with no standard quality. Realizing the huge demand and supply gap that exists in the market for reliable batteries, we decided to foray into the branded mobile battery segment.”

In the near future, the company plans to broaden its portfolio by diversifying into laptop batteries, camcorders and digital cameras/equipment as well.

The company has put up a dedicated manufacturing unit for portable power products. The batteries are available in a price range of Rs. 295 to Rs. 995 based on the mobile phone model.