In another sign that Motorola is turning its fortunes around, a report by market research firm Canalys found that the company became the fourth largest smartphone manufacturer in India within a year of re-entering the market. In so doing, it also pushed Nokia (now part of the Microsoft Devices Group) down to fifth place.
Motorola shipped 955,650 smartphones in India in Q2 2014. In comparison, Nokia shipped 633,720 smartphones and the top three manufacturers, Samsung, Micromax and Karbonn, shipped 4.4 million, 3.1 million and 1.07 million units respectively. In the previous quarter, Nokia had held down fourth place with 583,160 units shipped compared to Motorola’s 379,310.
Motorola’s success is attributed to the Moto G and the new and even more inexpensive Moto E which launched more recently. With a recent price cut, the Moto G now sells for INR10,499 (about CA$190) for the 8GB model and INR11,999 (about CA$215) for the 16GB model while the Moto E sells for INR6,999 (about CA$125).
The Indian market, already fiercely competitive, looks to become even more so with the entry of new players such as China’s Xiaomi which just entered the market this summer and Finland’s Jolla which is expected to do so very shortly.
Lenovo’s acquisition of Motorola from Google is expected to close before the end of the year. It will be interesting to watch if and how it changes the company’s current go-to-market strategy.
Sources : The Economic Times // NPU