CHAPTER – 01

INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTRODUCTION

The mobile phone dominate modern human life and is becoming a part of
basic need of a person as a means of communication around the world. Every
individual use mobile not only for communication purpose, but also it become a
personal assistant to make everyday easier. The development of mobile
communication technolgy eg. wireless internet, mobile phone, Mp3 player, GPS
navigation system has been a long journey of innovation, which is constantly
evolving and updating as a result of consumers changing needs and preference.

The development in brands of mobile phone technology affects both

consumers and manufactures. There is a problem of hard competition among various
brands of mobile phones in the market. Everyday a new phone is launched with
enhanced features and technology in the market. Nevertheless of the fact that this
competition has provided the consumer a wide variety of mobile phones to choose
from, at the same time there is also confusion prevailing in the minds of consumer
about which of particular mobile phone suites his or her requirements most. This
evaluation leads to brand preference.

For marketers, increase in competition leads to decrease in sales of mobile

phones as market share is now divided among more seller. So the study of brand
preference is of great significance. Therefore the marketers have to study the various
mobile phone attributes that influence consumer brand preference.

As per the research findings from the eMarketer it is found that the mobile
phone market which was 4.08 billion users globally in 2012 grew by 6.2% in 2013 to
4.33 billion users. The mobile market is supposed to grow by 5.1% to 4.55 billion

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users in 2014 and further by 4.7% to 4.77 billion users. The total mobile phone users
are likely to reach 5.13 billion users globally by 2017.

Figure 1.1 : Worldwide mobile phone users

Source: www.eMarketer.com

As per the above Figure 1.1 it is found that , in 2012 around 58.2% of the global
population was using mobile phones, this percentage grew to 61.1% in 2013 and is
further expected to grow to 63.5% of the global population. By 2017 around 69.4% of
world’s population is expected to use mobile phones.

The smart growth in india phone marketing

According to latest trends in the Indian smart phone market is heating up as

multinational and homegrown companies compete to convert customers away from
old-generation feature phones. The UK based consultancy Canalys says that India is
now the world’s fastest growing smartphone market globally and the third largest
market after China and US. Also according to a July report by We Are Social, India
has only 243 million internet users but three-quarters of these use their mobile
phones to go online. Google says it expects India to be the world’s second largest
internet market by 2017, driven by mobile phone usage.

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1.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

o Macro Analysis & Consumer Research Organisation, 2004 conducted a study

to investigate the attitude, usage patterns, the factors that trigger purchase and
awareness with regards to the reason launches of mobile handset in the market.
The finding revealed that a substantial amount of respondants has adequate
exposure to technology prior to their actual purchase, there was high
awareness about ‘new model launches’ by various companies like Nokia,
Motorola, Samsung and LG and majority of the respondents perceived a cell
phone as the technology that offers convenience and make their life easier.

o Gopal & Anjali & Aakansha, 2013 examined that today’s market medium
screen phone is quite popular, while only minority of buyers choose small
screen models. As far as the size and weight compared, slim handsets were
leading and light weighted handsets were popular while heavy weighted
handsets had least popularity.

o Chowdhary & Rahman, 2003 studied relationship between demographic

variables on the brand preference and identified that young consumers gave
special emphasis to some particular factors in Chittagong Metropolitian city.
They asserted less importance to durability, price, oppinion because of their
swift switching attitude. As a whole , Samsung is competing with industry
leader Nokia, Sony Erison and other brands grab share of the youth market.

o Das as cited in SATA, 2013 conducted an empirical research based on survey

method according to the study, a handset of reputed brand, smart appearance
and with advanced value added features is the choice of young consumers.
Female in gender group, Post graduates in education group, students in
occupation group place most prominent role in buying decision of a mobile
phone.
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o Singh, 2012 conducted a study to identify consumer preference towards various
mobile phones in Punjab. In order to cope up with the research, primary dat
was collected and analysed which showed the price multimedia options
features and looks are the significant factors influencing the purchase
behaviour of mbile phones.

o Bhatt, in his article “A study of mobile phone usage among the post graduate
students” revealed that mobile phone usage, duration of use, necessity, the
spending on mobile phones, influencing factor for purchasing the mobile
phone, awareness of medical side effects of the mobile phone usage among the
Post graduate students on the basis of primary data ; which was collected
Sardar Patel University from 700 post graduate students. The result indicates
that the usage and satisfaction level of mobile phone users differ from company
to company.

o Marumbwa & Thakur, 2013 conducted a study to identify brand image

positively influence the consumer brand preference and increase in customer
satisfaction levels would yeild positive consumer brand preferences.

o Liao, Yu-Jui, 2012 investigated the determinants in smart phone purchase and
identified the market segmentation of smart phones. The result showed that
when buying a smart phone, consumer considers product designs and
integration of hardware and software were important and convenience of
transfering files and media display were not important.

o Chu-Mei Liu, 2002 inferred that branding is important to manufactures,

retailers and consumers. Brands with higher brand equity have higher sales.
The growth of mobile phones subscription is considerably faster in the

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 Philippines. Advertising and promotion are undertaken through the co-
operation between the service providers and mobile phone manufacturers. The
study tries to find out the effects of the different activities on consumer choice
of mobile phone brands.

o Androulidakis & G. Kandus, 2011 correlated the brand of mobile phone to

users’ security practices. Users show different behavior in an array of
characteristics, according to the brand of the mobile phone they are using. As
such, there is a categorization of areas, different for each brand, where users
are clearly lacking security mind, possibly due to lack of awareness. Such a
categorization can help phone manufacturers enhance their mobile phones in
regards to security, preferably transparently for the user.

o Tajzadeh Namin & Rahmani Vahid & Tajzadeh Namin Aidin, 2012 analyzed
that the process of deciding over a brand may be influenced by situation and
content. The findings suggest a significant relationship between the variables
“brand attitude”, “corporate attitude”, and “product choice”.

o Mehran Rezvani, Syed Hamid Khodadad Hoseini & Mohammad Mehdi

Samadzadeh, 2012 investigates the impact of Word of Mouth on Consumer
Based Brand Equity creation. WOM characteristics such as, volume, valence,
and source quality are studied to find how intensely they each affect brand
awareness, perceived quality, and brand association. The results suggested that
volume and valence, two elements of WOM, affect CBBE and no significant
relationship between source type and brand equity was seen.

o Harsha de Silva, 2011 generally shows that adoption of mobile telephones has
significant benefits not just to the adopter, but to the community at large. In
this context, the objective of the current article is to examine, from a user

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 perspective, the influences on mobile phone adoption by the poor in a selected
set of countries in the emerging Asian region.

o Rodolfo Martínez Gras & Eva Espinar Ruiz, 2012 highlight a new dimension in
information and technology with respect to teenagers in Spain. The main
objective of this article is to analyze the relationship between Information and
Communication Technologies and Spanish adolescents. Specifically,
researchers have studied, through qualitative methodology, the characteristics
of teenagers’ access and uses of technological devices and analyzed the purposes
that motivate the utilization of Information and Communication Technologies,
highlighting a close relationship between technologies and peer
communication and entertainment. On the contrary, there is an under-
utilization of all these devices for teaching and learning purposes.

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Due to the technological innovation in mobile phone technology, the products

are created beyond what consumer need and want. There are large number of
manufactuers who produce and sell different variety of mobile phones. Therefore
huge competition exist in the mobile phone market to sell their product.

In today’s competative mobile market, it is very important to deal with the

market share and changing customers tastes and preference. Therefore, this study is
going to identify and rank the factors from most important to least important factors
affecting mobile phone brand choice among government employee in varkala region.

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1.4 NEED AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Successful marketing of products demand is a thorough understanding of customer's

taste, choice, preference etc. This study is focused on assessing the buyers in terms of
"brand preference". This study will be significant in the following grounds:

o Findings of the study will help marketers understand brand preference

practices in mobile phone market. It will also give information about level of
customer involvement in brand searching, analyzing attributes and brand
choice for the high involvement product mobile phones.

o It will be useful in creating most favourable brand by knowing the buyer

perception and response..

o Deeper understanding of brand preference of customers can help managers to

design marketing strategy that will concentrate on customers.

o It will be a valuable reference for scholars and researchers to conduct further

similar research.

1.5 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

 To identify various brand features in different price ranges and a

comparitive analysis.

 To identify the brand preference of government employee in Varkala

region associated with different mobile phones.

 To assess the factors affecting preference and purchase decision of a

particular brand.

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1.6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

a) Sampling Methodology

Sample size : 100 respondents

Sample unit : Government employees have been taken as
sample unit.
Sample area : Varkala
Sampling technique : Random sampling techinique

a) Data Collection

Both primary and secondary data were used. Secondary data was used to
support primary data.

 Primary data has been done using questionnaires and observation,

which are the two basic methods of collecting primary data.

 Secondary data sources like catlogue of the company, product range

book of the company and various internet site such as google.com have
been use.

 International, national, Kerala based studies within 5 years were used

for gaining background of different brands and their features.

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1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

 Telecommunication networks like BSNL, idea, Airtel and so on has not been
considered in the study.

 A small sample size of 100 employees is taken. So inference taken for the
whole population may have impact of small size sampling.

 Time period is short and resource constraints.

 The scope of project limited to Varkala region.

1.8 CHAPTERISATION

 Chapter 1 : Introduction
 Chapter 2 : Theoretical framework
 Chapter 3 : Company profiles
 Chapter 4 : Data analysis and interpretation
 Chapter 5 : Summary, findings, suggestions and conclusion.

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 CHAPTER : 02

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 INTRODUCTION

Telecommunication revolution in India especially in the last two decades has

significantly change the life of every Indian. Mobile phones have become an
inseperable part of human life. With the advent of new technologies these mobile
phones are becoming smarter day by day.

In India, brand switching is more common in the cellular phones industry. Brand
switching means consumer switches from one brand to another brand to achieve the
satisfaction level. Different consumers have different characteristics in their life that
influence their buying behaviour. In this research, those features are analyzed which
directly affect the consumer to switch between brands.

Indian smartphone market is an emerging market, there are many smartphone

companies that are targeting India as their market. Some of the major international
companies are Samsung, Apple etc. the market share of international brand are
decreasing as local brands like Micromax and Karbonn are launching smartphone
with android operating systems and large screen at very low price compare to the
international brands. For example, Canvas 4 by Micromax is a smartphone which was
launched in India below INR 19000 as the smartphones with same features in
international brand like Samsung, Apple or Sony is around INR 40000. This chapter
explores some of the key factors believed to affect consumer’s attitude and behaviour
towards mobile phone purchase.

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2.2 HISTORY OF MOBILE PHONES

Mobile phones, particularly the smartphones that have become our inseparable
companions today. However, the history of mobile phones goes back to 1908 when a
US Patent was issued in Kentucky for a wireless telephone. Mobile phones were
invented as early as the 1940s when engineers working at AT&T developed cells for
mobile phone base stations.

The very first mobile phones were not really mobile phones at all. They were
two-way radios that allowed people like taxi drivers and the emergency services to
communicate. Instead of relying on base stations with separate cells, the first mobile
phone networks involved one very powerful base station covering a much wider area.

Motorola, on 3 April 1973 were first company to mass produce the first
handheld mobile phone. These early mobile phones are often referred to as 0G mobile
phones, or Zero Generation mobile phones. Most phones today rely
on 3G or 4G mobile technology

2.3 INDIAN MOBILE PHONE MARKET OVERVIEW (2017)

India is one of the world’s largest and among the fastest growing
smartphone markets. With sales slowing down in mature markets like the US and
Europe, handset makers are expanding their presence in the Indian market, bringing
in the best devices from their portfolio. Smartphone shipments in India grew 15
million to 29 million units in March quarter compared to the year-ago period, with
top five brands capturing almost 70 per cent of total segment.

Samsung, Micromax, Lenovo and Motorola together has seized more than 40%
of the market share out of the overall smartphone market in India. Samsung enjoyed

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its leadership in financial year 2017 with its flagship smartphone Galaxy J models as
this series packs a punch with locally developed Ultra Data Saving (UDS) mode, S
bike mode and Turbo Speed Technology.

The ASP (average selling price) of smartphones in India increased by Rs 2,000

during the March quarter compared to the year-ago period. The reason for the
increase in ASP is the growing number of users that are upgrading to the high-end
specifications offered by brands in the Rs 8,000-20,000 price segment

Figure 2.1: Market share of top mobile phone manufactures 2017

Source: www.business-standard.com

As per the above figure 2.1, Samsung continued to lead the market with 26 per
cent share, followed by Chinese players Xiaomi (13 per cent), Vivo (12 per
cent), Oppo (10 per cent) and Lenovo (8 per cent).

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 Overall, the mobile handset market grew by six per cent in the January-March
2017 quarter, with smartphones and feature phones contributing equal share.

“Offline brands like OPPO, vivo and Gionee have now started focusing on
online channels as well to gain extra market share,” Counterpoint Research Analyst
Karn Chauhan said. He added that online-only brands like Xiaomi and Motorola are
moving fast into offline markets to widen their reach to the mass market, addressing
consumers in tier II and III cities.

Figure 2.2: Market share of manufactures in premium mobile phone segment

Source: www.business-standard.com

From the above figure 2.2, the premium segment (over Rs. 30,000) grew at 35
per cent year-on-year with Samsung accounting for 48 per cent market share,
followed closely by Apple at 43 per cent. OnePlus, OPPO and Google made it to the
top five in this segment, but each with marginal shares.

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2.4 BRAND

A brand is a distinguishing symbol, mark, logo, name, word, sentence or

a combination of these items that companies use to distinguish their product
from others in the market. Legal protection given to a brand name is called
a trademark.

A brand is seen as one of its company's most valuable assets. It represents

the face of the company, the recognizable logo, slogan, or mark that the public
associates with the company. In fact, the company is often referred to by its
brand, and they become one and the same. A company's brand carries with it a
monetary value in the stock market , which affects stockholder value as it rises
and falls. For these reasons, it's important to uphold the integrity of the brand.

Hence brand is,

 an instrument for sales promotion on the market, where stiff competition

exists,

 facilitates easy advertisements and publicity,

 creates special consumer preference over the product,

 Sales can be increased through brands,

 arrest the immediate attention of buyers,

 differentiates the goods of the producer from the goods of competitors,

 safeguards standard quality and satisfaction to buyer.

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2.5 BRAND PREFERENCE

Brand preference is strongly linked to brand choice that can influence the
consumer decision making and activate brand purchase. Understanding the brand
preferences of consumers’ will dictate the most suitable and successful Marketing
strategies .One of the indicators of the strength of a brand in the hearts and minds of
customers, brand preference represents which brands are preferred under
assumptions of equality in price and availability.

2.6 FACTORS INFLUENCING BRAND PREFERENCE

A consumer’s buying preference is influenced by cultural, social,
personal and psychological factors.
Table 2.1
Classified factors influencing consumer preference

Cultural Social Personal Psychological

Culture Reference groups Age Motivation

Sub culture Family Occupation Perception
Social class Role and status Lifestyle Beliefs & attitudes
Personality Learning

Source: secondary data

2.6.1 CULTURAL FACTORS

Culture represents an overall social heritage, a distinctive form of

environmental adaptation by a whole society of people. It includes a set of learned

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 beliefs, values, attitudes, morals, customs, habits and forms of preference that are
shared by a society and transmitted from generation to generation within that society.
Cultural influence is a force tunneling both patterns of consumption and patterns of
decision making from infancy.

` Culture, Sub – Culture and Social Class are particularly important in

buying behaviour.

 Culture : Culture is the distinctive way of life of people and it is the most
fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behaviour.

 Sub culture : Each culture consists of smaller sub – cultures that provide more
specific identification and socialization for their members. Sub – Cultures include
nationalities, religious, racial groups and geographic regimes.

 Social class: Consumers’ buying preference is determined by the social class to

which they belong or to which they aspire, rather than by their income alone. The
idea of social class is now elaborated further into a new concept called
psychographics which can indicate better evaluation of consumer preference.

2.6.2 SOCIAL FACTOR

A consumer’s Preference is also influenced by social factors such as the

consumer’s reference groups, family, and social roles and statues. Because these social
factors can strongly affect consumer responses.

 Reference group: Buyer preference is influenced by the small groups to which

the buyer belongs. Reference groups are the social, economic, or professional
groups and a buyer uses to evaluate his or her opinions and beliefs. Buyer can

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 get advice or guidance in his or her own thoughts and actions from such small
groups. Reference group is useful for self-evaluation and attitude formation.

 Family: The family can exert considerable influence in shaping the pattern of
consumption and indicating the decision-making roles. Personal values,
attitudes and buying habits have been shaped by family influences. The
members of the family play different roles such as influencer, decider,
purchaser and user in the buying process.

 Role and status: The person’s position in each group can be defined in terms of
role and status. A role consists of the activities that a person is expected to
perform. Each role carries a status.

2.6.3 PERSONAL FACTORS

A consumer’s buying Preference is also influenced by personal characteristics.

These include the buyer’s age, occupation, life style, and personality and self-concept.
 Age: Consumption is shaped by the family life cycle. Marketers often choose
age group as their target market.

 Occupation: A person’s consumption pattern is also influenced by his or her

occupation. Marketers try to identify the occupational groups that have above
average interest in their products and services.

 Lifestyle: The life style concept when used carefully, can help the marketer
gain an understanding of changing consumer value and how they affect buying
behaviour.

 Personality: Personality can be useful in analyzing consumer behaviour for

some product or brand choices.

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2.6.4 PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTOR

A person’s buying choices are also influenced by four major psychological

factors: motivation, Perception, learning and beliefs and attitudes.

 Motivation: A motive is a need that is sufficient pressing to direct the person to

seek satisfy the needs.

 Perception: A motivated person is ready to act. How the person acts is

influenced by his or her perception of the situation. Perception is the process
by which people select, organize and interpret information to form a
meaningful picture of the world.

 Beliefs and attitudes: A belief is a descriptive thought that a person has about
something. Marketers are interested in the beliefs that people formulate about
specific products and services. Attitudes put people into a frame of mind of
liking or disliking thing, moving toward or difficult to change.

 Learning: Learning describes changes in an individual’s behaviour arising from

experience. Learning theorists say that most human behaviour is learned.

2.7 BRAND PREFERENCE OF MOBILE PHONE

Consumers can base their smartphone purchase decisions on a range of product

attributes, such as price, wireless carrier, phone functions, phone design, brand,
usage, phone size, carrier flexibility and purchase location. However, a Finnish study
found that although consumer decision-making in the telecommunications market is
affected by specific phone attributes, choice is often made without an understanding
of the properties and features that new models have.

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 In recent years there has been rapid growth in the adoption of smartphones
that has attracted increasing attention of consumer buying behaviour. Smartphones
provide marketers with the opportunity to develop smartphones that will create a
unique content of interactive experience between consumers and a brand, thus
engaging consumers more effectively.

2.8 IMPORTANT FEATURES IN A MOBILE PHONE

The features of mobile phones are the set of capabilities, services and
applications that they offer to their users. The common components needed in all
phones are:

 A long-lasting battery

For most top-tier phones, there's not a huge difference in battery

life with most needing a daily change. But even the ability to eke out a few extra
hours is important with handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus winning praise for
their impressive battery specialty.

 Processor power

The processing power built into today's smartphones is pretty

astonishing. All this new-found computer power is used to run web browsing, GPS,
music streaming, videos, 4G connectivity and all the other scores of tasks your phone
carries out on a daily basis. Looking for a phone with a powerful chipset inside is
especially important if you're planning to use your phone for tasks that require a large
amount of processing power, such as watching HD videos or gaming.

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 Price
Once we ticked off all the things you want to see in a mobile
phone, it all comes down to price. While top-notch smartphones don't usually come
cheap, it's worth shopping around for the best deals.

 Crystal-clear display

Screen size is linked to usability. If you have small hands, you

might not want a massive screen that you can't use one-handed. Having said that, if
you're big on photography or watching videos then a bigger screen, like the super-
wide display on the LG G6, might be the best option for reviewing your shots and
comfortably catching up on your favourite TV shows. Screen quality is also
important, with phones like the Sony XZ Premium sporting 4K resolution for the best
possible images.

 Great camera
As compact digital cameras have been gradually relegated to
history, the smartphone camera has become more important. The ability to take shots
anytime and anywhere without having to lug any extra kit around is a huge bonus,
especially as the quality of smartphone shots just keeps getting better. Though the
cameras on top-tier handsets like the LG G6, iPhone 7 Plus and Huawei P10 are all
impressive, they all bring something a little different to the table, so weighing up the
pros and cons of their respective snappers is vital when choosing your next phone.

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 Design and build quality
A super-shiny phone body might look amazing when it
comes out of the box, but it won't have quite the same effect when it's got
smudged fingerprints all over it, and more importantly, if it's not very grippy, you
risk dropping it and ending up with a cracked screen. A sturdily built phone
chassis has a better chance of surviving such falls.

 Plenty of storage space

Most smartphones come with anywhere between 16 and 32

gigabytes of storage. Extra space is a nice luxury, but these days you'll be saving most
of your media in the cloud.

2.9 CONCLUSION

This chapter showed the consumer behaviour toward mobile phone in Indian
market, the behaviour is influenced by various factors. These factors motivate
consumer and help them in purchase decision making process which result in
consumer buying a mobile phone. This chapter helped to determine each factor and
identify as how they are influencing consumers. This literature helped to shape the
research questions and research objectives of this study. It also shows the brand
influence on consumer behaviour as brand of mobile phone plays important role in
consumer purchase decision for a mobile phone.

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 CHAPTER: 03

COMPANY PROFILE
3.1 iPhone

Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company

headquartered in Cupertino, California that design, develops and sells consumer
electronics, computer software and online services. The company’s hardware products
include the iPhone smartphone, the iPad tablet computer etc. Apple was founded by
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in April 1976. It was incorporated as
Apple Computer, Inc.in January 1977. Apple went public in 1980 to instant financial
success. However, the high price tag of its products and limited software titles caused
problems, as did power struggles between executives at the company. Jobs resigned
from Apple and created his own company, NeXT.

As the market for personal computers increased, Apple computers saw

diminishing sales due to lower priced products from competitors. More executive job
shuffles happened at Apple until then CEO Gil Amelio in 1997 decided to buy NeXT
to bring Jobs back. Jobs regained position as CEO and began a process to rebuild Apple’s

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status which included opening Apple’s own retail stores in 2001.It again saw success
and returned to profitability. In August 2011, Jobs resigned as CEO and Tim Cook
became the new CEO.

In January 2007, Steve Jobs introduced the long-anticipated iPhone.

The first-generation iPhone was released on June 29, 2007, bringing innovative
features such as a touch screen interface and a virtual keyboard to a broader audience.
The most important feature of the iPhone is its revolutionary multi-touchscreen. This
screen voids the necessity for any mechanical button to appear on this gadget.

Considered by many as a revolutionary product, the Apple iPhone drove

growth for the smartphone market. Since its introduction to the consumer market,
Apple has released eight generations of the product, along with new features and
updates. The iPhone runs on Apple’s own mobile operating system iOS, the second
most popular smartphone operating system in the market.

Apple's goal for the first year of the iPhone was to capture 1% of the
worldwide cellphone market. The company achieved that goal and now stands at
somewhere between 20% and 40% of the market, depending on which country
you're looking at. In 2016, the iPhone made Apple the second-largest smartphone
vendor in the world, with a global market share of almost 15% percent.

Apple's performance in India has become of keen interest to the company's

investors. Apple's revenues from India have doubled year over year. Apple, which
started manufacturing iPhones in India in May 2017, has managed to reduce the price
of some of its models helping the Cupertino-firm to garner higher market share in
India.

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 3.2 MICROMAX

Micromax Informatics Limited is one of the leading consumer

electronics company in India, and the 10th largest mobile phone player in the world.
Micromax products have become an extension of the Indian youth's lifestyle and
dynamism. Smartphones ,Tablet computers ,Air conditioners, LED TV, Laptops
,Power banks, Sound bars etc. are the main products of Micromax.

Micromax was incorporated as Micromax Informatics Ltd. on 29 march

2000. It is an Indian Consumer Electronics Company headquartered in Gurgaon,
Haryana. It was established by Rahul Sharma and Vikas Jain as an IT Software
company operating in the Embedded Devices Domain; it later entered the mobile
Handset business .It started selling mobiles in 2008,focusing on low pricing to
compete with international brands.

Rahul Sharma co-founded Micromax Informatics Limited and currently

serves as its Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Product Strategy and
Channel Sales since 1 April 2007. Hugh Jackman the Global Hollywood icon is now
the Brand Ambassador for the Micromax Canvas range of Smartphones. Now Anil
Kapoor is their Brand Ambassador for Consumer Electronics in India.

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 The company launched Micromax X1i, its first telephone with a month-
long battery back-up. The company has many firsts to its credit when it comes to the
mobile handset market; including the 30-day battery backup, Dual SIM Dual Standby
phones, QWERTY keypads, universal remote control mobile phones & first quad-core
budget smart phone.

In 2014, Micromax’s sales exceeded those of Samsung to become the mobile

telephone manufacturer shipping the most telephones in one quarter in India. On 24
January 2014, Micromax became the first Indian mobile company to starts sales in
Russia. As on 10 April 2016, Micromax announced a strategic partnership with digital
payments company TranServ and global payments technology major Visa offer the
next generation of payments solutions in India.

With the entry of Jio services, India have witnessed tremendous adoption to
4G enabled mobile phones. To capture these early first time 4GAdapters, Micromax
have started rolling out basic smartphones with 4G capabilities under Bharat series .So
far, company have already launched Bharat 2 which is Considered as one of India’s
cheapest 4G mobile phone.

Micromax is currently the 2nd largest smartphone company in India.

Micromax is a brand which is close to the heart of the youth, and celebrates the
vibrancies of life and empowerment. Micromax sells around 2.3 million mobility
devices every month, with a presence in more than 560 districts through 1, 25,000
retail outlets in India.

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3.3 OPPO

OPPO Electronics Corp. is a Chinese consumer electronics firm based in

Guangdong. The brand name OPPO was registered in China in 2001 and launched in
2004. It was founded by Chen Mingyong and Tony Chen. OPPO’s major product lines
include smartphones, audio visual and other electronic devices.

The company has registered the OPPO brand name in many parts of the
world. OPPO entered the mobile phone market in 2008. It is a is a global electronics
and technology service provider making a real impact in over 20 countries such as the
United States, China, Australia and many other countries in Europe, Southeast Asia,
South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

OPPO began looking at expansion into international markets in 2010 and

opened its first overseas business in April 2010 in Thailand. Oppo was launched
in India in August 2014. OPPO has appointed Mike Wang as its new CEO for Indian

operations. It also hired actors Hrithik Roshan and Sonam Kapoor as their brand

ambassadors

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 OPPO provides the highest hardware quality standards and the best user
experience. From the start, OPPO’s products pushed boundaries. As OPPO continues
to expand into new markets, the goal of making their products more accessible
around the globe without compromising product service and quality has never been
clearer. OPPO’s brand philosophy is summed up in the phrase “The Art of
Technology”.

It is continually striving to impress and capture young hearts with elegant

trendsetting design, excellent user experience, customer centered product
development and quality services. OPPO has adopted a strategy of rapid release for
smartphone development, releasing firmware updates as well as expanding its reach
and service across the globe.

According to the company’s latest regulatory filings, Oppo Mobiles India

saw sales surge to Rs 7,974.29 crore in the year ended March 2017, a 754% increase
from Rs 933.74 crore in the fiscal before. Oppo was burning a lot of money in the
Indian market last fiscal along with Vivo, be it through advertising blitz, sponsorship
of cricketing tournaments, paying retailers heavy margins, buying out retail shelves to
place its handsets and branding. All these led to a massive jump in sales.

The selfie expert and leader, OPPO is ranked as the number 4 smartphone
brand globally since 2016 and is providing excellent selfie experiences to more and
more young people around the world. In 2017, OPPO introduced artificial
intelligence to the front camera and is leading a brand new era of the selfie.

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3.4 SAMSUNG

Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational corporation headquartered

in Samsung Town, Seoul. Samsung was founded by Lee Byung-chul in 1938 as a
trading company. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united
under the Samsung brand and is the largest South Korean business conglomerate.
Over the next 3 decades, the group diversified into areas including food processing,
textiles, Insurance, securities and retail.

Samsung entered in the electronic industry in the late 1960s. Following Lee’s
death in 1987, Samsung was separated into 4 business Groups. Samsung India
Electronics Ltd. is one of the subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Company Ltd. of
South Korea started its operations in 1995.

Choi Gee-sung is the President and Chief Executive of the digital media
division at Samsung Electronics. As of 2017, Samsung has the sixth highest global
brand value. Its products include air conditioners, computers, televisions, mobile
phones and telecommunications networking equipment.

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 Samsung Mobile Division is one of five business units within Samsung
Electronics. Headquarters is located in Suwon, South Korea. Samsung introduced its
first mobile phone to India in 2004. In 2008, Samsung Electronics
‘Telecommunication Business declared its new business strategy focusing on
consumer and marketing. Samsung mobile phones are divided into 6 major categories
– Style, Infotainment, Multimedia, Connected, Essential and Business.

In 1977 Samsung Electronics launched the Telecommunication Network, and

in 1983 it initiated its mobile telecommunications business with the hope that this
would become the company's future growth engine. In 1986, Samsung was able to
release its first built-in car phone SC-100, but it was a failure due to the poor quality.
After 2 years of R&D Samsung developed its first mobile phone, SH-100 in 1988. It
was the first mobile phone to be designed and manufactured in Korea. But the
perception of mobile devices was very low and although Samsung introduced new
models every year, each model sold only one or two thousand units.

In 2007 Samsung Mobile Division Business reported over 40% growth and
became the second largest mobile device manufacturer in the world In 2008, Samsung
Electronics Telecommunication Business declared its new business strategy focusing
on consumer and marketing. At the end of November 2011, Samsung sold more than
300 million mobile devices which was a close second after Nokia with 300.6 million
mobile devices sold in the first three quarter of 2011. As of 2012, Samsung is the
largest manufacturer of devices running Google Android with a 46% market share.
Now Samsung became the most trusted brand in India.

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3.5 XIAOMI

Xiaomi was founded in April 2010 by serial entrepreneur Lei Jun

based on the vision “innovation for everyone” headquartered in Beijing, China. MI in
the logo stands for Mobile Internet. It also has other meanings, including Mission
Impossible, because Xiaomi faced many challenges that had seemed impossible to defy
in their early days. Their aim was to provide additional functionality that Android
had yet to offer and an easy to use user interface.

Xiaomi released its first smartphone in August 2011 and has rapidly
gained market share in China to become China’s largest smartphone company in
2014. As of 2017 Xiaomi is the world’s 5th largest smartphone company. Xiaomi has
expanded into developing a wider range of consumer electronics, including a smart
home device ecosystem.

Xiaomi's leading mobile handset line is the Xiaomi Mi series. At first,

to reduce overhead costs, Xiaomi did not own any physical stores, selling exclusively
from its online store. In recent years, they have opened 54 brick and mortar stores to
combat the strategies of other low cost competitors in Chinese markets.

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 There are similarities between Xiaomi and Apple however, they are
both hardware and software companies, both have strong control over supply chain
and have a feverish fan base. Apart from this the two companies don’t have much else
in common, Apple price their smartphones at ludicrous prices and don’t take on much
customer feedback whereas Xiaomi do the opposite.

Xiaomi was now not only making its own software, but its own
hardware too. The company incorporate the feedback of their customers into product
range, which currently includes Mi and Redmi smartphones, Mi TVs and set-top
boxes, Mi routers, and Mi Ecosystem products including smart home products,
wearables and other accessories.

In 2014 Xiaomi announced its expansion outside China, with their first
their international headquarters in Singapore. Following Singapore, the company
opened in Malaysia, Philippines and India. In April 2015 Xiaomi announced it would
make its Mi devices available through two of India's major e-commerce sites and
through offline retailers for the first time.

On 23 April 2015, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun and VP Hugo Barra came
together to announce a new smartphone named Mi 4i in India, the first phone to be
launched in India before any other country. In 2017, Xiaomi’s market share grew by
nearly two-fold because of the Chinese OEM’s incredible performance in the Indian
smartphone market, where it is now level with Samsung with respect to market share.
In Q3 2017, Xiaomi became No.1 Smartphone brand in India, overtaking the current
record holder Samsung. Xiaomi has sold 9.2 million units during this period .

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