Former Apple CEO John Sculley has announced the launch of his brand Obi Mobiles in India.
Sculley announced on April 17 that Obi Mobiles is expected to start operating as early as May this year. Ajay Sharma, former division head of Micromax and HTC, will become the CEO of Obi Mobiles in India. Sculley also revealed that the company's low-cost handsets will have a starting price tag of Rs. 5000 (approximately $83).
Inflexionpoint, a Singapore-based company, is said to be initially investing $20 million in Obi Mobiles. Dragon Technology of Singapore will take care of the production of the handsets in China. Inflexionpoint-owned Iris Computers will be responsible for the sales of the handsets in India and will sell the brand's products using its distributors and vendors. According to a Telecom Tiger report, Obi Mobiles also has plans to enter markets in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East after it is launched in India.
The Indian mobile phone market is flooded with Indian brands such as Xolo, Micromax, Lava, iBall, Karbonn and more. Moreover, well-known international brands such as Nokia, Samsung and HTC also have devices that are competitively priced for the Indian handset market and, therefore, Obi Mobiles may find it difficult to grab a chunk of the Indian handset market.
However, Sharma, with his 30 years of experience, is optimistic about the launch of Obi Mobiles in India.
"India's smartphone market still has many opportunities to offer in terms of mobile features and value-added services. Obi Mobiles will be catering to the needs of young Indians who want to own a mobile phone with latest technology, features and are also seeking value for money. These are also the major factors why young Indians replace their handsets quite frequently," says Sharma. "Additionally, with access to branding and marketing guidance from John Sculley and a well-experienced team that we have built, we look forward to reaping the benefits of the intense smartphone demand in India."
Sculley also sees a good potential in the Indian market. He said that with the delay in 3G implementation, coupled with the high price of smartphones, the smartphone share in India is still only 20 percent with large untapped markets.
Obi Mobiles is yet to have a web presence and its website still has a "coming soon" label on it.
