LG, Sony to Exit from Entry Level Smartphone Market in India; Stiff Competition from Local Players

LG has been serving India for quite some time now with its range of smartphones in every segment. Sony used to develop smartphones on the expensive side, but recently joined the bandwagon to provide similar experience as on the high-end smartphone on cheaper smartphones. LG’s L series did not take off as expected, while Sony’s Xperia series did not impress those looking for budget phones.

In a news that may not be surprising, but saddening, LG and Sony both have decided to leave the entry level smartphone segment and focus more on the other segments where sales are motivating. Both of them have shown decline over the last few months and the market share of LG has dropped to 0.4% while Sony’s is at 1.5%, in 2015. The respective shares in 2014 were 1% and 4%, nothing to write home about. Domestic smartphone size grew by 20% in 2015 and the leaders have kept their positions intact.

Motorola, acquired by Lenovo, had also planned to follow a similar route, despite of different reasons.

Reason for exit?

The entry-level market is one of the most important segments in India, where the sales have been increasing every year. Better phones are being launched every quarter claiming high-end features in low-end prices, which is making this market very hot right now. The market is dominated by Samsung, Micromax, Intex and Lenovo who have a market share of 26%, 16%, 10% and 9% respectively in 2015.

Sony and LG claim that the local players and Chinese handset makers are eating away into their sales, due to high proliferation in the market and competitive pricing. LG and Sony reek of quality, but fail to deliver the same in terms of pricing and we have seen in the past that Sony usually prices its smartphones higher than the usual norm.

What is the plan forward for LG and Sony?

“Sony Mobile has shifted its focus more on premium segment within the product portfolio. The number of models will reduce as compared to last year as we shift focus purely on the premium segment,” was communicated by a spokesperson. Sony does not have many exciting phones in the mid-range segments either, and the only high-end smartphones in its kitty are Z5 and Z5 Dual, which come boast of excellent camera, display quality and sturdiness. Sony needs time to streamline its operations in India before venturing out into niche segments dominated by other similar smartphone makers.

“We have our smartphone portfolio starting from a price point of Rs 8,000 and we shall continue to bring new devices in this price segment. This is in alignment with our smartphone strategy for India and all our future smartphones that are in the pipeline are all aligned to this strategy,”, said a spokesperson from LG. LG too is restructuring its entry market division and plans to do thorough research before launching a new smartphone in this category. The LG G5 launched at MWC 2016, shows that LG can be one of the best in the premium segment, but the Indian market does not accept low-end smartphones with no outstanding features.

Recent entry of LeEco, Xiaomi and OnePlus have created a stir amongst the citizens of India for offering high-end features in relatively inexpensive smartphones. It is quite possible other players like Samsung face heat in the market, however that is definitely not happening until the end of this decade.

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You Can Now Give Free Missed Calls Even With Insufficient Balance!

Have you ever been in a situation when you had to contact someone urgently or when you were in an emergency and you didn’t have sufficient balance in your phone?



Many of us have either faced this situation or fear it. Telecom operators block outgoing calls in all prepaid numbers when the subscribers don’t have sufficient balance to make a call.

There are many ways to counter this situation. Some of them are:

Borrow someone’s phone for making a call
WhatsApp the person you want to contact
Recharge your phone online
Visit the nearest PCO
But what would you do when you can’t recharge online and are too shy to ask someone to let you make a call from his phone? What if the person you want to contact doesn’t use any instant messenger and has no digital presence? What if you can’t find a PCO nearby?

When all else fails, then InstaVoice will come to your rescue.

What Does InstaVoice Do?

Kirusa’s InstaVoice lets you give a free missed call to your contacts even when you don’t have sufficient balance to make a call. This app thus helps you reach out to your friends and family by sending them a signal in the form of a ‘missed call’ to get in touch with you.

“An overwhelming majority of users in emerging markets use a prepaid mobile. Making a free missed call should be a right available to every prepaid user. However, when a prepaid user runs out of balance, even urgent calls cannot be made. Here InstaVoice Ring helps, by sending a missed call to the recipient without charging any of the users,” said Surinder Singh Anand, VP of Product Management at Kirusa.

Other features of InstaVoice include free voice mail and voice SMS, free missed call alerts, manage multiple phone numbers, notes, and social sharing.

InstaVoice can act as a lifesaver during the emergencies. Install the app and share your experience with us.

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Now Uber Will Launch Their Own Closed Digital Wallet Exclusively For Their Indian Riders

48th most powerful company in America, Uber which is worth $62.5 billion worth is not satisfied with their progress in driving consumers to their cab hailing app, yet. They are soon going to launch their own exclusive digital wallet, for catering to their own customers from India.

Credit card, which is the de-facto payment method for Uber customers worldwide may soon be passe`. In India, Uber customers can pay using cash, Paytm wallet or Airtel Money wallet; both of which can be a history considering that Uber will now push for their own wallets across India.

In fact, India would be the first country wherein Uber would be launching their exclusive wallet.

Maybe we can expect a slew of fresh discounts and free rides as well?

The Reason Behind Uber’s New Digital Wallet

As per reports emerging, Uber had been working on their own Digital wallet, ever since Reserve Bank of India imposed the two-step authentication procedure for all credit card payments. This RBI rule came into effect since August 2014, and Uber promptly partnered with Paytm to work upon this rule.

Later, Airtel Money wallet and cash payments were added to assist the customers.

One person close to the developments happening at Uber shared with ET: “Uber has been working on the closed wallet feature (since) right after the RBI mandate was given. It will still continue working with other (digital) wallets.”

Another set of reports mention that user would be able to upload Rs 5000 maximum per month in that wallet; and RBI’s 2-step authentication would not be a requirement for using this app.

Uber has refused to either confirm or deny this news.

But UPI Makes More Sense?

Yesterday, we had reported how NPCI is launching Unified Payment Interface (UPI) which can actually kill all mobile wallets in the country. With their flexibility and innovation, UPI can soon be the one stop destination for making digital payments.

Now, with respect to UPI, a new, separate wallet only for Uber rides seems like a far stretched idea. After all, will you download a separate app, just for Uber?

In case Uber integrated this wallet into their existing app, then it can be a different ball game altogether.

We will keep you updated as more information comes in.

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Birla’s More Mall To Accept Payments Via Paytm

Mobile wallets adoption is increasing at a rapid rate in India. More and more new players are coming up their own mobile wallet offerings. Back in December 2015, Mahindra Group launched its NFC based digital wallet. We also heard that Reliance would also be launching its Jio Money digital wallet very soon.

In a latest development, Uber, the world’s most valuable start-up, also announced its plans to launch its own digital wallet in India. Uber currently accepts digital payments through Paytm and Airtel Money while supporting other payment modes like card and cash.

Now, Adiyta Birla Group’s retail arm- ‘More’ has tied up with country’s largest mobile wallet company, Paytm. This means that you can pay at ‘More’ malls with your Paytm wallet. No need to swipe your card or make payment in hard cash.

The payment system is being tested for consistency and security since the last month, and will now be available at all 500 ‘More’ outlets throughout the nation.

This will not only improve your shopping experience, but will also add to your convenience and savings. You will earn cashback and discounts when you pay at ‘More’ outlets using your Paytm mobile wallet.

“Now, our customers can shop with ease and convenience through the use of their Paytm wallets and also earn discounts and cashbacks,” said Vishak Kumar, CEO at Aditya Birla Retail.

How Will It Work?

Shoppers will have to follow a very simple procedure for making a payment via Paytm. Here are the steps to follow:

Tell your mobile number that is registered with Paytm to the personnel sitting at the counter.

Now share the one-time-password (OTP) that you’ll receive on your phone with the counter executive.

Payment will be made when this OTP is entered into the retailer’s system. That’s it.

Isn’t it super easy and convenient?

With this payment option, your money remains safe until you spend it and also won’t have to arrange for change to be produced at the counter. You can also send your kid to the nearby ‘More’ mall and rest assured that he will not lose the money and will get what is needed.

This is just the beginning of the penetration of mobile wallet payments in India. I’m pretty sure that other mobile wallet provider will also follow suit and start a revolution while encountering their most formidable competitor, the Unified Payment Interface.

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In a major decision which can change

There’s something interesting about one of my previous employers. There was a very friendly & casual work culture and I must say the organization was quite progressive in terms of employee engagement, innovation etc. The constant quest for doing things differently led to something unusually interesting. It was usual practice to have contests & rewards on a regular basis. Blogging, doing things over & above the job description in an innovative way to make processes better etc. were rewarded on a regular basis which ensured a healthy & a vibrant work culture. But the icing on the cake was the reward itself.

Breaking all stereotypes, the rewards were not in the form of cash or some stereotypical gift items or Sodexho passes but PayTM cash. That’s not something you hear often, isn’t it?

Most employees used it for paying internet / mobile bills or for Uber. That sort of gives the flexibility to the winner to use it the way he/wants. Quite functional too because commuting to work is quite painful in most metros especially when you live far from work. There’s nothing like getting a free ride to work (although you’ve earned it).

That got me thinking and I proposed the idea to some other companies that seek some advice from me and it seemed to have picked up quite well. It’s easy for the employers too, especially the Employee engagement officers or the HR team as they don’t have to scout around for gifts, prize items and cash isn’t all that personal and has very little recall value.

A decade ago, nobody would have thought rewards & prizes would be in the form of mobile wallet cash. We have seen the adoption of mobile wallets steadily increasing over the years & in fact saw a very interesting message in one of the stores I had been to recently:

“Grandfathers paid by Cash. Father paid by Card. You can pay by a-certain-mobile-wallet.”

It was quite catchy & is very likely to strike a chord with the millennials of today. Despite the various reports on death of the mobile wallet & all that, one can’t refute the fact that it’s gotten immensely popular especially among the millennials.

Organizations are doing different things to appeal to their employees to offer a great employee experience. After all, employees are the internal customers & it is quite important to keep them motivated, engaged & happy. When the number of millennials is increasing in number, organizations must figure out ways like these to give them something that appeals to them instead of a boring flower vase or a photo frame or worse, cash!

Another trend that I have been observing is the importance that is given to candidate experience. Thanks to portals like Glassdoor etc., companies are becoming increasingly sensitive to the overall experience of all of the parties that deal with them. Be it customers, employees, partners and even prospective employees or candidates who appear for jobs. There are companies that gift a voucher or some small token of appreciation for their candidates for taking the time out to reach out to them and go through the process. These rewards are majorly for candidates who don’t get through the process and are said to be rejected. Nevertheless, to make them feel good & as a good practice of ensuring a great candidate experience, this gesture is getting immensely popular especially among startups.

An easy reward in this scenario can be mobile wallets. The same benefits such as freedom from the hassle of choice for the recruitment team to choose gifts, flexibility to the receiver to use it they way the desire etc. hold good.

It also has the potential to be a part of the payroll to ensure better accountability for Travel Allowance etc. The possibilities are quite unending and many more such applications & use-cases remain to be seen. It also depends on how mobile wallet companies leverage these trends and good marketing can lead to a major cultural change in the way we look at reward cash.

While we are talking about the increasing adoption of mobile wallet, there’s even more reason to rejoice & go this way because of the recent announcement wherein there’ll be no surcharge for transactions done through mobile wallets. Isn’t that even more reason for going all the way to mobile cash?

About the Author: Sai Sundhar Padmanabhan is an experienced Marketing Professional & a Carnatic vocalist based out of Bangalore

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