Where art thou, Micromax A116 Canvas HD?

It has been a little over two weeks since the Micromax Canvas A116 HD was announced, but since then the company’s flagship device has been lost in a crowd of new smartphone launches. There is simply no sign of the smartphone in the market.

There is no doubt that the A116 is one of the more popular devices to be launched this year. Our recent poll asking readers to pick between Micromax’s offering and the Samsung Galaxy Grand resulted in a landslide victory for the former. It's apparent Micromax has managed to create a buzz, but where the act has gone awry is the availability of the phone.

The Micromax A116 Canvas HD was supposed to be out this week

The phone was expected to be out in the first week of February and now that we are in the first week of the month, the phone should have been out in the market, if not for immediate shipping, then for pre-order at the very least. One of the indicators that official availability is imminent is the smartphone grey market. However, our grey market sources had no inkling of when the phone would be out. This is normally a sign of launch delay.

We reached out to Micromax with some questions: we wanted to know when the phone would be available, if it is indeed delayed or was never primed for final launch in the first place. We also wondered what was to blame for the delay. The important question, however, was how much longer customers would have to wait for the phone. However, the company was unavailable for comment.

The unavailability of the phone two weeks after its announcement could just be an unfortunate situation, or it could be a sign that Micromax was a bit premature in announcing the phone and is actually not ready with the device.

As things lie, it seems Micromax fans will have to wait a bit longer to get their hands on the handset, but unfortunately for the company, this delay may turn out to be a body blow for its smartphone’s chances. As is evident, there is no dearth of large-screen handsets in the market, and the really itchy customer may just pull the trigger on one of the A116's rivals.

The Samsung Galaxy Grand, which was released a day after the Micromax device is already available in the market. The wait for the A116 could just turn out to be a boon for the Grand, which is similar except for the display resolution and the dual-core processor. If it’s the latter, an exodus from their fan base could hurt Micromax more than it thinks.