Abstract
Micromax, is the 12th largest handset manufacturer in the World (According to Global Handset Vendor Market share report from Strategy Analytics). The Indian brand is reaching out to the global frontiers with innovative products that challenge the status quo that Innovation comes with a price. With an in-depth understanding of rapidly changing consumer preferences coupled with the use of advanced technologies, Micromax has been able to differentiate itself from the competitors through innovation and design. Globally, Micromax caters to a varied target audience having their focus majorly on the youth. their overseas product portfolio is tailor-made to suit the needs and aspirations of growing consumer base in the international markets.
Micromax
Micromax is an Indian consumer electronics company located in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. It is in the business of manufacturing of Mobile Telephones, Tablet Computers, 3G Datacardsand LED Televisions. It has 23 offices in India and an international office in Hong Kong The company has about 656 employees. Micromax started as an IT software company in the year 2000 working on embedded platforms. In 2008, it entered mobile handset business and by 2010 it became one of the largest Indian domestic mobile handsets company operating in low cost feature phone segments. This transformation was steered by four friends who divided responsibilities on functional lines, which haven’t changed since: Rajesh Agarwal, Rahul Sharma, Vikas Jain, and Sumeet Arora. The company has a 15% market share in the Smartphone segment in India.
As per IDC Asia/ Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker 2013 Q2 for August 2013. The company’s product portfolio has more than 60 models ranging from feature rich, dual SIM phones, 3G Android Smartphones, TabletsPC’s,LED Televisions and 3Gdata cards. The company claims it has many firsts to its credit in the Mobile handset market – including the 30-day battery backup, dual SIM, QWERTY Keypad, Universal Remote Control Mobile Phone etc. Micromax has presence in more than 560 districts through 125,000 retail outlets in India The company has sales presence spread across Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
History
Micromax started their mobile phone manufacturing operations in 2008 when multinationals ruled the telecom industry. With an understanding of the rapidly changing consumer preferences coupled with the use of the latest technologies; Micromax differentiated itself from the other players with its pricing Everything started with a truck battery in the year 2007. In the powerless village of Berhampur in West Bengal, Mr. Rahul Sharma saw an AirtelPay Phone being powered by a truck battery. Every night, the PCO owner would lug the battery 12 km to an adjoining village on his cycle, charge it there overnight, and lug it back to Berhampur in the morning. Rahul was fascinated by the nature of innovative adaptation to suit the difficult conditions which the payphone operator had employed and his interest only grew when he found out that to everyone’s surprise, the operator was also able to earn a tidy sum of money. Based on this experience of innovation arising from constraint, Micromax soon launched its first phone which had a battery back-up of one whole month known as X1i. In 2011, Micromax entered the phablet market with the Canvas series.
Micromax aims to be a company with a double digit market share by 2014. Now the company has entered the smart phone segment and tries to change the status quo that innovation and technology comes at a price.. On July 28, 2011, Micromax withdrew its 4.66 billion rupees (about $106 million) initial public offering(IPO) due to volatile market conditions. The withdrawal was recommended by its board in order to allow the company to focus on new product launches and product development. On October, 2013, the company made an announcement that Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman will be endorsing the soon-to-be-launched Micromax smartphone called Canvas Turbo.
Products
Mobile Phones
Innovations
• 30 day battery standby phone-X1i Micromax X1i Xtra is a Bar phone weighing g. It’s dimensions are 120.5MM x 52.5MM x 13.50MM . The talk-time of the phone is Up to 6.5 hours. The phone operates at frequencies of GSM 900 / 1800 MHz | GSM 900 / 1800 MHz The Phone has a Display of 6 cms (2.0 inches), QVGA TFT Display Screen. This model comes with Camera of 0.3 Mega Pixels, VGA Camera with Digital Zoom • Gravity GC700 GC700 was
a dual sim device which enabled GSM & CDMA in one device with just a flip of the device. Micromax GC700 is a Dual SIM (GSM + CDMA) bar style phone having 2MP camera with, motion sensor, multi format music player, video recorder. • Universal Remote Control Phone-X235 X235 was a feature phone that could also be used as a remote control device for air conditioners, TV, DVD players, etc. Micromax X235 mobile phone has universal Remote Control. The X235 had 176×220 pixel screen, Bluetooth, GPRS/WAP/MMS, Dual SIM, Camera, Music player, video player and FM radio. • Gamolution- G4 Along with a phone G4 could be doubled up as a wireless gaming device which enables gaming on desktop and laptop. Games like badminton, tennis, bowling, etc. could be played. The device was similar to Nintendo Wii. The Gamolution came preloaded with motion sensor gaming console. A contraction of Gaming Evolution, the device offers Bluetooth Game Dongle, Lanyards – Wristband, Games CD, Game Codes and Game Manual. • Bling Q55 Q55 was a women centric phone. It was the first phone with a Swarovski crystal on it. Micromax Bling Q55 is a dual SIM phone with a swivel form factor and QWERTY keypad. The Bling is endorsed by Twinkle Khanna. • Van Gogh X450 X450 was a device with a detachable Bluetooth device. It provided a convenience to people who carried 2 devices, 2 chargers. Micromax X450 Van Gogh, has Bluetooth headset dock built right into the back of the phone. The Bluetooth headset could charge from the phone. • Gesture control phone – A85 A85was the first Gesture rrecognition phone in India, the phone functioned with gestures and needed no touch. The A85 SUPERFONE is equipped with a 1 GHz dual core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. It was the first product to integrate Gesture recognition. • ModuT Modu T was the worlds lightest touch screen phone and holds the world record for the same. Micromax Modu T is a Bar phone weighing 62.2g. It’s dimensions are 75MM x 46.5MM x 11.00MM. The phone operates at frequencies of GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 / UMTS 900 / 2100 MHz . The Phone has a Display of 2.2 inches QVGA Display, LCD Touch Display. • MTV Music phone X360 X360 was the first MTV phone with Yamaha chipset for better sound quality. X360 had Multi Format Music Player with Yamaha & Wolfson Amplifiers and Stereo FM Radio/Recorder. • QWERTY Keypad Q3 was the first qwerty keypad chat device under 100$ • Funbook- P300 7-inch Multi-touch Capacitive screen, 1.2Ghz Cortex A8 CPU with 400Mhz Mali 3D GPU, 512MB RAM, 4GB Memory, Android 4.0 OS, WiFi, HDMI
Port, HD Video, VGA Front-facing camera • Micromax Canvas A250 Turbo Canvas A250 Turbo was the first phone with Object Eraser app for the camera. It lets you erase unwanted parts of an image right on your phone. Other innovative apps on this device include Cinemagraph and 360 Panorama capture. Canvas Turbo was officially announced in India on Oct. 24, 2013. The device surfaced in retails on Oct. 26 at price of INR 19,990. LED Televisions
On 9 October 2012, Micromax announced its foray into the home entertainment segment with the launch of new range of LED Televisions, Home theaters, 3D Blu Ray and SMART Stick, the Android dongle. There are six models of LED TV. from 24” to 55”. All six models feature High Definition Media Interface, which supports all video resolution and are powered by AVEA (Audio Visual Entertainment Architecture) Micromax Funbook Tablet
Micromax entered the world of the tablet industry by launching Micromax Funbook on April 3, 2012, an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet with 7-inch capacitive display, 1.2 GHz Cortex A8 Processor with Dual Mali 400 MP GPU, 4 GB flash storage and 512 MB DDR1 RAM. The tablet is powered by a 2800 mAh Battery with a browsing time of five hours. It also features 0.3 MP front camera, HDMI connectivity and Internet access via Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and a 3G USB dongle and a “Made in India” tag. It is eerily similar to the Chinese tablet Player Momo 9, which makes people wonder why has it been provided with a mini USB port instead of Micro USB. The Micromax Funbook comes with a mini HDMI port that allows up to HD 2160p (3840 x 2160) video mirroring to larger displays such as HDTVs, etc.
Micromax Funbook Pro Tablet
The Micromax has produced a 10 inch version of its Funbook tablet, dubbed as the Funbook Pro. It runs on the Android v4.0 Operating system, featuring a larger 10.1-inch capacitive multi-touch display with a resolution of up to 1024 x 600 pixels. It houses a 1.2 GHz Cortex A8 processor coupled with 1 GB of RAM for even smoother multi-tasking experience, a Mali 400 GPU for handling graphics, and 8 GB of internal storage. It includes a doubled up 5600 mAh battery that allows long lasting performance. It is missing native
3G support and allows high-speed internet access only via either an external 3G data dongle or a Wi-Fi connection.
Micromax’s competitors
all set to topple Samsung’s position to become the top selling Android phones Company in the Indian market. Currently occupying the number two place, it is slowly and gradually making way to the top position. The latest report on the Indian Smartphone phone market for the second quarter is here. International Data Corporation (IDC) in its report indicates that market share of Samsung is at 26 percent only while that of Micromax has 22 percent market share and is occupying the number two position. The company which came into existence in 2000 and ventured into mobile phone segment only in year 2008 is ready to become the leader. It’s no secret that Micromax gets handsets from China and tweaks these for Indian use, re-packs and sells in India. Yet, the company is the most successful one. The reason behind the success, is its competitive pricing. The Indian market once loaded with phones from Samsung and Nokia, had seen new phones with great features priced at a fortune. Micromax had a gap to fill in the market, with phones with great features at low prices. This was where the company decided to strike as the market was shifting from feature phones smart touch screen phones. You can also say, it was the time when Samsung was taking over Nokia, as Sammy came up with touch screen devices faster than Nokia.
Apple and HTC were never Micromax competitors. Yet the company went in for a metal framed Canvas 4 as a premium 5-incher to compete with Apple’s iPhone 5. With the Canvas Doodle 2 A240 the company launched an all-metallic bodied phone that places itself beautifully between a stylus based Galaxy Note and bigger sized HTC One. Again at the lowest price in the segment In less than 10 years since Micromax started in the direction of leading the market, it is already at number two. Recent Controversies about micromax
Arrests in Bribery Case
Dhru Banthia and Manish Tuli, co-founders of Micromax, were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly bribing the Municipal Corporation of Delhi officials for a banquet hall in the city. The MCD
officials, allegedly caught while accepting the bribe of Rs. 30 lakh, were also arrested from Timarpur area in north Delhi. CBI sources received a tip-off that Mr Aggarwal and Mr Tuli had entered a deal with the engineers of the Delhi civic body to get clearance for construction of a banquet hall in the Wazirpur area in exchange of bribe of Rs. 50 lakh with the price negotiated to Rs. 30 lakh. Micromax CEO Deepak Mehrotra quits
Micromax CEO Deepak Mehrotra has resigned. He was with the smartphone vendor for the last two years. Deepak Mehrotra joined Micromax, a leading smartphone vendor, which is going through a major controversy due to the alleged involvement of its co-founder Rajesh Agarwal in a bribery case, in December 2011. Micromax recently said it would like to take top position in the Indian smartphone market from Korean devices major Samsung. But the recent controversy started affecting its business plans including some of the phone launches, sources said. Deepak Mehrotra will join education company Pearson as the new managing director for its India business on Monday, October 21. Pearson Education is the leader in education publishing and is present in over 70 countries.
Micromax’s Hugh bet
When Rahul Sharma, Co-founder of Micromax, first told his employees about the prospects of signing up Hugh Jackman as the brand ambassador, more than 90 per cent of them were not convinced. They were worried that the consumer segment where Micromax had established itself may not even know Jackman. But Sharma had no second thoughts. For, in his mind he had decided to take Micromax to a global audience and the Hollywood actor’s profile was a perfect fit. “I don’t want Micromax users to know Hugh Jackman because they are already my users. I want to influence those guys who know Hugh Jackman but not Micromax – and who are the opinion-makers. The trickle-down effect would happen from there. We want to change the perception of people when they see Micromax,” says Sharma.
