HTC of Taiwan Targets to be Top-3 Brand in Indian Market for Smartphones

Eying tremendous potential of the Indian market for smartphones, Taiwan-based HTC Corp. with its eponymous brand, is aggressively enhancing promotion in an effort to become a top-3 brand there.

HTC's chief financial officer, C.L. Chang, pointed out that presently, high-end smartphones contribute about 6% to overall sales in India, while models priced INR10,000-20,000 and below INR10,000 command about 20% and 70%, respectively. The sales structure indicates that price is generally the main concern among local consumers, hence driving HTC to launch a new entry-level smartphone along with two higher-end models in the market.

The three new models are HTC One M8, Desire 816 and Desire 210, respectively targeting the high, middle and low-end segment of India's smartphone market, with the Desire 210 selling for only INR8,700 and deemed as the Taiwanese brand's ace in the hole to boost overall market share there. At present, the brand's share stands at around 4%.

Chang emphasized that since the iconic design of HTC's smartphones has proven popular with Indians to help cultivate brand loyalty, HTC therefore is looking to further strengthen presence in the market by promoting the three new models mentioned above, and aims to be a top-3 brand in the short term, with sales in the market to greatly drive the brand's overall performance starting in the second half of this year.

According to market research firms, Samsung commanded 38.9% of the Indian market for smartphones as the largest brand in the first quarter of this year, followed by Micromax, Karbonn, Lava and Nokia. Presently, the country is the world's third-largest smartphone market by size, trailing China and the U.S. (SC)