Indian smartphone vendor Micromax has hired Vineet Taneja as its new chief executive officer from Samsung.
This is a major setback to Samsung, which is in the process of establishing Galaxy S5 amid reports that the latest smartphone flagship is drawing less attention among Indian youth. This was denied by Samsung earlier.
The Korean smartphone vendor could not retain Vineet Taneja despite the company growing its mobile phone business at around 40 percent. On the other hand, Apple device business increased nearly 100 percent in the latest quarter.
Micromax is targeting to achieve the number one position in the Indian smartphone market as per its earlier plans. However, this can be achieved only if the second largest phone brand can cough up enough funds on new smartphones and marketing budgets.
Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma said that the move is a testimony to the vision and commitment that Micromax co-founders have of bringing in the best talent to build a strong organization and capitalise the opportunities in this environment of data devices explosion.
The appointment will help the company consolidate its strong presence in the market, drive global partnerships and strategic alliances, while strengthening the organizational capabilities within Micromax.
With over 25 years of experience, Taneja has worked with consumer brands like Hindustan Lever, Nokia and Bharti Airtel, prior to Samsung.
“We are witnessing an inflection point in the smart devices globally. Therefore, it is a great opportunity for me to lead Micromax into its next phase of growth by consolidating and further strengthening its position in India, and looking at global markets to complete its transition of becoming a global force to reckon with,” Taneja said.
The company’s former CEO Deepak Mehrotra had quit the firm in October last year, citing personal reasons, and Sharma was managing affairs in the interim.
Market reports IDC indicated that smartphone sales in India grew almost three-fold to over 44 million in 2013.
Similar to global trends, Samsung is the market leader in smartphone category in India too, a segment that grew almost three-fold to over 44 million in 2013.
While Samsung led the category with 38 percent share, Micromax had 16 percent, Karbonn 10 percent, Sony 5 percent and Lava 4.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013.
In the overall mobile phone segment too, it was the number one player with a 19 percent share in Q4 2013, according to research firm IDC.
TelecomLead News Team
