“Enterprise is a big segment for smartphones and we see strong traction here”

At a time when enterprise segment looks forward to infusing collaborative tools in order to create business innovations and increase productivity, as an enabling device, Smartphones hold big potential to cater to this need and with an array of devices, Nokia is well poised to make a difference. Vipul Mehrotra, Director-Smart Devices, Nokia IMEA talks to TelecomDrive about the way Smartphones are moving towards creating opportunities for the users and how Nokia is looking at the enterprise world for answering their questions on smart collaboration.

Q) How does Nokia look at its smartphone focus for India?

As a company, our goal is to build great mobile products that enable billions of people worldwide to enjoy more of what life has to offer. We continue to build a strong product portfolio across the spectrum, enhanced with a host of differentiated, relevant and localized experiences. Our smartphone strategy is based on delivering great devices on three differentiated pillars of experiences viz, Location, Imaging and Entertainment.

India is a priority market for us, and was among the initial major markets where we introduced the Lumia portfolio. We launched the first Nokia Lumia devices, in India less than a month of their global launch. From 2013 Jan till date, we have taken the WP platform mainstream with the launch of 10 new Lumia devices in India, each at a new price point; each delivering an uncompromised Lumia experience, available across a range of price points from Rs 47,000/- to Rs. 7,000/-.

Our new devices clearly showcase our portfolio strategy.  By taking select innovations from our high end products and matching them to the priorities of a given audience, we’re driving these advanced technologies to new price points for an incredible midrange smartphone experience as well.

Q) Where is the big growth going to happen as far as smartphones are concerned?

According to Canalys, India has emerged as the third largest Smartphone market after US and China in Q2, 2013. The India smartphone market grew by 229 percent year-on-year to 12.8 million smartphones in third quarter of 2013 compared to 3.8 million units in Q3 of 2012, revealed IDC report. Smartphone users across urban and rural India is fast increasing, with highest incidence of Smartphone users in 18-24 age group and the increasing penetration mobile connectivity has given a boost smartphone sales.

Our value Lumia range is doing well in India, reiterating the fact that consumers are looking for a great smartphone experience at affordable price points, and we at Nokia are successfully addressing this growing need. We are working closely with Microsoft to offer Nokia Lumia devices at newer price points, thereby offering the Windows Phone and Lumia experience to newer consumers.

Q) What are some of the big challenges with regards to further penetration of smartphones in India?

2014 will see smartphones and usage of mobile internet take off in India and we expect consumers to be far more demanding of the entire ecosystem - whether its quality of network, quality of service, quality of experiences both from a hardware and software standpoint; or simply demanding more and more infotainment and commerce related services on the mobile platform. The stage is set; the opportunity is for India to realize.

Q) Can you please share the revenue mix of Nokia coming from smartphones and feature phones?

As a policy, we don’t comment on sales and revenue, but our focus is equally on both feature phones and smart devices.

Q) How important is the form factor while determining the success matrix for a smartphone?

In terms of form factor too, we believe one size does not fit all. Different consumers prefer different form factors basis their usage and lifestyle. We take a human approach to design. We use our understanding of the way people live and their aspirations to inspire designs that they will want and love to use. e. Thus, our t portfolio includes forms from the sleek and slim Lumia 925 with a metal frame to the large 6” screen on Lumia 1320 and the uni-body Lumia 1520 to the latest Asha 500, 502, 503 smartphones that come with a unique layered ‘crystal clear’ effect and vibrant colors.

If you look at our Lumia range, you will see that while we have the lovely unibody form, we also have models with exchangeable, colorful, back shells- a more customizable form factor that lets users change the color of the devices on the fly to suit their mood or changing tastes.

Q) How does Nokia look at the enterprise segment with regards to providing its smartphones? Is there any specific go to market strategy on this?

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Q) Today's Enterprise CIOs quite often consider going in for smartphone based collaboration within their workforce or business users. Where can Nokia help here?

Enterprise is a big segment for smartphones and we are seeing strong traction in India. Today, with shrinking IT budgets, CIOs are increasingly looking for simple standardized direct access solutions that connect with existing enterprise solutions without any additional investments and complexity in middleware.  The Lumia portfolio allows them the flexibility of mobilizing a greater part of their workforce. It brings together the best of Nokia and Microsoft’s B2B strengths, even while catering to their multimedia needs with rich music, imaging, mapping, application solutions that are setting benchmarks for the industry.

Currently, we are adding more than 20 new customers every month in India and these organizations are part of the BT Top 1000 corporates.

In the last two years, more than 400 enterprise including GMR Group, Tech Mahindra, Ibis Hotels, Deloitte, KPIT, Qualcomm, Emerson, CGI Info Systems, Trilegal and Eureka Forbes, among others, had opted for the Windows Phone based Lumia portfolio. The Lumia portfolio offers a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for services like email and the Microsoft Office suite offers tighter seamless integration and enterprise grade security on the mobile device.