Market Watch: Mobiles (Feb 2012)

The mobile phone segment has seen quite a bit of “movement”, recently. Then again it’s never been one to sit still, as it is. The constant influx of new handsets from the long list of handset manufacturers is ongoing at a feverish pace. Today you may have purchased the top of the line mobile handset, but tomorrow, the possibility of another rendering it obsolete is reasonably high. As the evolution of the mobile handset continues, so will our thirst for ownership of the latest in what the genre has to offer.

Please keep in mind that the information gathered in our Market Watch features are based on the details provided to us by retailers and shop owners in various parts of Mumbai city. The prices could vary depending on your geographic location, sales, special offers and retailers in your location. 

In this edition of our tech2 Market Watch for mobiles, we’ve seen existing players like Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Micromax taking a bit of a hit with certain products offered. Some of the local brands like Micromax, Spice and Fly, according to our market sources and various retailers, have been facing issues with maintaining thorough customer satisfaction, due to poor after sales service. This has also affected the sales of their products, in general.

Samsung has been on a roll announcing new devices on a very regular schedule, but they haven’t all been winners, either. Their Omnia W, Windows Phone 7 handset hasn’t met with a high level of acceptance. Here are a few other handsets that have not been faring to well either –

Nokia E7 – It has had its day in the sun and is of course giving way to the newer models from the Finnish company.
Nokia E6 – The E6 QWERTY toting Touch and Type handset was also a hit when it first arrived, in the second quarter last year and is now slowly fading away into the sunset.
Sony Ericsson Arc S – The original Arc fared quite well, but its younger sibling seems to have hit a snag. One possibility about the lack of sales is simply that users are now carving a new design. Samsung with their big winner, the Galaxy S and its many variations, seem to have been the only ones who have very successfully managed to keep the design constant, while tweaking the hardware of the device, according to the requirements of the market.
HTC Sensation XL – Our sources have also informed us that HTC’s latest high-end offering, the XL, with Beats Audio has not been faring too well. It could be due to its rather high price. In the same range, one who is not particularly drawn to a specific OS could also opt for an iPhone.

We were also informed, quite unanimously, that Samsung’s Galaxy S II made it out as one of the top selling smartphones of 2011. The iPhone also fared quite well, in respect, however the higher price met with a bit of friction when it came to choice. 

Some of the handsets that made it to the top selling list in the mid-range segment were the Nokia C5, the Samsung Galaxy Ace and of course BlackBerry’s Curve 8520 riding the BBM wave.

Amongst the big budget, fully loaded devices Nokia’s Lumia 800, that hasn’t been faring too well on a global scale, seems to have found quite an audience in India. The Galaxy Note Mini-tab has also made quite an impression on the Android loving community and RIM’s BlackBerry Bold 9790 has done well for itself with its niche set of users. Apple’s iPhone 4S is also amongst the best selling handsets, price be damned.

If you’re looking for something more specific, check out our drop box below where you’ll find the latest prices of mobiles handsets via their manufacturer.