Is India A Low-Cost High-Quality Smartphone Market?

While smartphone penetration across the globe is booming, India seems to be emerging as a hot spot of low-cost-high-quality smartphones, with smartphone vendors rushing to the country in a big way to join the race.  Most recently, Internet giant Google rolled out Android One phones in India- Karbonn Sparkle V, Micromax Canvas A1, and Spice Dream UNO, priced at Rs 6,399.  Android One is an initiative designed to address a nagging problem among earlier entry-priced Android smartphones, which are said to offer an inconsistent user experience.  

The entry-prices smartphones unveiled earlier in the last 45 days in India are priced as low as Rs 1,999. In the first week of September, eyeing the bottom of the pyramid segment in India, which is feature phone user base, Spice Retail has rolled out Firefox OS-powered smartphone, the Spice Fire One Mi – FX 1 at the modest price of Rs 2,229. Likewise, Intex too has launched Firefox-OS powered smartphone, Cloud FX, in India at Rs 1,999.

Moreover, Jivi Mobiles, a mobile phone company based in New Delhi has introduced the JSP 20: a smartphone for Rs 1,999. The Jivi JSP 20 is currently the lowest priced Android smartphone in India. Immediately after Jivi’s launch, Datawind, makers of the Aakash tablet, announced a phone for the same price as well.   Chinese players like Huawei, Xiaomi and ZTE are too exploring the boom in Indian markets big-time with phones in the range of Rs 6,000 or around...