Motorola to Focus on Mid-Range Phones in India

Motorola is reversing its policy of focusing on low-cost handsets for the Indian market after it found significant demand for multimedia capable phones in rural areas.

"Our focus on rural market in India is not just about cheaper phones. We are seeing adoption of multimedia devices in rural pockets as well, which is growing quite quickly," Malcolm Dawe, vice president and General Manager, Motorola Mobile Devices told the Business Standard newspaper.

He said given the fact that the mobile penetration in India was just about 20 per cent, the company was expecting a tremendous opportunities in the country. "I think the opportunities we have in India is bigger than anywhere else," he added.

The company also expects to launch NFC capable phones in the near future - presumably taping into potential for mobile banking with payments deducted from NFC terminals in shops and transport services.

Motorola had signed up to the GSM Association's low cost handset project - but customers in India were disinterested in the resultant basic phones which sold for an average of US$25 each - preferring to pay a significant premium to get a Nokia phone with colour screen - costing US$40 each.

On the web: Business Standard

Posted to the site on 15th May 2008