Ziox Mobile is an emerging brand in Indian Telecom Market and has achieved trust among its Indian Consumers in a very short period. The brand has established its presence across the country with a wide system integrators and distribution channels. Mr. Deepak Kabu, CEO, Ziox Mobile joined DT for sharing his views on market conditions, trends and their targets.
Q. How is the current market for feature phone in India?
A. This might be the era of eminent smartphones but India's mobile phone industry isn't writing off the humble feature phone. The feature phone which were all about basic messaging and calls have seen revival of sorts and have gone smarter. Brands too are focusing on innovating in the existing segment, with newer enriched features that are relevant to the present day users. The segment is not focused only to the lesser known brands, infact several popular brands are aiming on establishing its stronger foothold, underlining its importance especially in rural markets.
Q. What do you think about Indian telecom market ushering in smartphone era?
A. 2016 hasn’t been a good year for smartphone around the world. However, for India, who has recently acquired the second spot in the list of the world’s largest smartphone market, it seems that the smartphone juggernaut remains impossible to stop. Growth potential in the budget smartphone market in India is not only intact but has been flourishing in folds. India, home to over 1.2 billion people, has smartphones in the hands of less than one-fourth of a billion of its people and as LTE (Long term evolution/4G) penetration grows, initial estimates hint towards India being home to a mammoth half a billion smartphone users in the next half a decade.
Keeping in pace with the demand for faster Internet connectivity, there has been the growing demand for phones with larger screens by the audience to feast their eyes on. The incredible growth potential has drawn in many international players to revamp their pricing strategy to suit the Indian smartphone market.
Q. What are the major challenges for you to grow in the industry?
A. So possibilities are growing, yet so are the challenges. For Ziox there are two key challenges firstly, Ziox is a new Brand into the mobile phones segment where competition already prevails in plenty, the well established players possess a great deal of competition for us.
Secondly in terms of manufacturing, currently the rising component prices in china & shortage of Display screens are major challenges that we are facing, this results into rising prices of phone which directly affect with our business plans to deliver consumers with most affordable mobile handsets.
Q. Have you planned to tap opportunity into smartphones market?
A. The face of the smartphone market is changing, and has begun an exciting journey. The market has witnessed tremendous growth and with India being at the cusp of the digitization, driven by widespread adoption of mobility platforms & solutions.
YES! We have already launched couple of smartphones and plan to release few more exclusive to the festive season. Keep watching this space as there are several in pipelines!
Q. The sale of feature phones is decreasing constantly, what are your innovative ideas to make feature phones more attractive?
A. These basic feature phones are getting smarter as well. In order to keep the consumer engagement high we are innovating in the segment with new feature sets that are relevant for present day users: bigger batteries which can act as power banks, selfie cameras, and large speakers to give a surround sound feel, stylish looks and several other developments all at budgeted prices.
Also, most of our Feature phones are equipped with some entertainment applications& minor increments like Pre-loaded content, Games etc.
Q. What is your target for this financial year? What are your strategies to achieve your revenue targets?
A. Considering the growth of Ziox mobiles over the years and the potential of the Indian mobile phone market we are determined to sell 5 million devices by the end of this financial year, and we have already begun the execution for the same. We have laid down strategic plans to help us make our vision for the year a reality. We shall be focusing on strengthening our distribution network at Pan India level offering a vast, varied and quality product portfolio which will be backed by aggressive and planned marketing activities with optimum service support.
