 |
An Indian
Sikh devotee takes a photograph on her mobile phone in the front
of the
illuminated Sikhism's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar
on the
April 18,2014
|
Former
Apple chief executive John Sculley, whose marketing skills helped bring the
personal computer to desktops worldwide, says he plans to launch a mobile phone
in India to exploit its still largely untapped smartphone market.
Inflexionpoint,
an information technology supply company co-founded by Sculley, will start
selling the smartphones next month in India under the new Obi Mobiles brand,
the Singapore-based firm said in a statement emailed to AFP Saturday.
"The
smartphone share in India is only 20 percent, leaving the larger part of the
ground with opportunities yet to be tapped," said Sculley, 75.
 |
John
Sculley, the former CEO of Apple,
attends the Allen & Company Media
and
Technology Conference on July 9,
2011 in Sun Valley, Idaho
|
Sculley,
who served as chief executive of Apple from 1983 to 1993, famously clashed with
technical visionary Steve Jobs over strategy, leading to the Apple co-founder's
exit from the company.
Jobs, who
returned to head up Apple in 1997 and turned out a string of blockbuster
products, died in 2011 after battling cancer.
Inflexionpoint
plans to invest $20 million this year to set up a supply chain, design centre
and offices in India, producing "affordable smartphones with superior
technology", Sculley said in the statement.
Smartphone
shipments in India tripled from 16.2 million in 2012 to 44 million in 2013, International
Data Corporation says, and analysts expect similar growth this year.
Sculley
said he hopes Obi's phones will lure premium phone buyers away from players
like Samsung and Apple. Samsung dominates India's smartphone market by sales,
followed by Sony and Apple.
"We
feel there is an opportunity to build another brand in India that would combine
global branding skills... (and) go into price points that are more like the
local brands -- in the 5,000 to 8,000 rupee ($83 to $133) range," he said.
Obi's
devices will be sourced from China and after setting up in India, the company
aims to expand to other growing markets in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and
Latin American regions.
Sculley
said that his old company, Apple, now has a dilemma over whether to lower the
prices of its products.
"Either
they miss the (emerging) market where 70 percent of the industry is, or risk
the falling of their stock price dramatically if they go after the
market," he told the Economic Times newspaper in an article on its website
Saturday.
"But
one company's dilemma is another company's opportunity," Sculley said.
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment