The 3G presence in India surfaced with telecom companies
like Tata DOCOMO, BSNL, Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel entering the market
this year and witnessing a considerable growth in terms of usage.
Analysts say low-cost handsets, content and applications;
affordability, innovation and the network are the key factors that will drive
3G in India’s extremely price-sensitive telecom market.
Global market research firm GFK Group pegged Samsung’s
share in value terms in the local market at 26.5 percent in August. Having
launched a new range of 3G devices to its existing portfolio 16 – 17 3G phones, Samsung’s contribution to the volume sales is
approximately 11- 12 percent.
The roll out of 3G services this year, further helped in
evolving consumers whose preference moved towards buying smartphones that will
empower them with more capabilities while on the move. Consumers increasingly
want to stay connected with friends and family through SNS, IM and messaging
while being on the move.
With its array of affordable 3G devices across different
mobile formats, in 2011 Samsung further made the 3G experience accessible to a
wider set of consumers. Samsung leveraged this opportunity and in 2011 provided
a wide range of 3G enabled handsets across various price points. A concentrated
focus on the 3G devices was and continues to be a part of Samsung’s
marketing strategy as the market presents tremendous opportunities and proved
to be a key area for growth.
So what should one expect from Samsung’s 3G enabled
phone? Samsung’s plethora of 3G enabled phones allow faster connectivity and
enable applications such as internet TV, video-on-demand, audio-video calls and
high-speed data exchange and the freedom to download full music files,
full movie files and other files at high speed it also allows high speed
internet on the move. The roll out of 3G services gave a further boost to
the touch screen segment since data downloads/video downloads will require
large, high resolution touch devices with an easy to use interface.
Further, as Samsung expands its applications portfolio
across multiple operating systems, the onset of 3G services is providing the
necessary eco system to enrich the consumers’ experience of these applications
and their mobiles. Thus it’s correct to say that in 2011 Samsung took advantage
of the 3G services rollout, both from the devices side and the collaboration
with operators.
How tablet space is shaping up
Looking at the Indian market and how it has evolved,
tablets have emerged as converged devices that hinges on creating a unique user
experience that would change the lifestyle of the Indian consumer.
Samsung saw success with its Galaxy Tab globally since
its launch last year and is further targeting a 50 percent market share of the
Indian tablet market by 2011 end.
With this kind of growth surging in the tablet market
Samsung kept the consumer demand and expectations in mind and launched its
power house variants, Galaxy Tablet 750 and 730 measuring just 8.6 millimeters
which are 3G devices. The GALAXY Tab 750 and 730 feature Samsung’s own TouchWiz
user interface implemented on the Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) platforms, offering
faster and smoother transitions between different applications.
The new tab variants offer a greater plethora of
applications to enrich the consumer experience on the Galaxy tablet including
India specific apps including pre-loaded My Reader app and Mobile TV apps. My
reader app gives Indian consumers access to 17 Indian newspapers, 17 Indian
Magazines and 30,000 Indian language books and the Mobile TV application on the
Samsung tablets gives consumers access to 55 Indian television channels.
In its latest study the research firm finds that although
the India tablets market is still nascent, nearly 1,58,000 media tablets were
shipped in the nine months ended June 30, 2011. Analysts have predicted
the global tablets users are expected to increase from 20 million in 2010 to
over 400 million in 2014.
By Ranjit Yadav, country head – IT and Mobile, Samsung
India
