"We are targeting 1000 crore in revenue by this fiscal end", says Ajay Sharma of Obi Mobiles

According to CyberMedia Research, 14.5 mn smartphones were shipped into India in January to March alone, of which Samsung, Micromax and Nokia had cornered 67% share. Other major players include Karbonn, Lava apart from fast growing foreign brands Apple and Sony, and a resurgent Motorola. In an interview with DQ Channels, Ajay Sharma, CEO, Obi Mobiles speaks about his high set expectation from Obi Mobiles, all geared up to be launched in June this year.

Obi Mobiles is a smartphone brand launched by Inflexionpoint, a globally focused IT and Telecom supply chain company which was co-founded by former Apple CEO John Sculley, Shane Maine, a London based structured finance strategist, Gordon McMillan, Toronto-based financial services entrepreneur and an experienced global distribution entrepreneur:

Have you witnessed any gap in the vertical that you are trying to address?

According to IDC report, the smartphone market in India has grown from 15 mn smartphones sold in 2012 to 44 mn smartphones in 2013. This shows the enormous rate at which the market is growing. Moreover, although there are brands present in the market but due to the very fact of the potential of this market, we feel that even new brands have scope to enter this market without taking away major market share of the existing brands. Bringing to consumers the best in technology and user experience, Obi Mobiles is uniquely positioned to benefit from existing Inflexionpoint operations which include, technology linkages and engineering capabilities of its Singapore headquartered subsidiary Dragon Technology and the countrywide distribution network of Iris Computers, India. The mission of Obi Mobiles is to expand the horizons of technology adoption and provide best in class smart devices as the next 500 mn phone users connect to internet using smartphones in India.

What is your edge over others with respect to your product offerings?

Apart from price consideration in which our smartphones will lie, that is between 5000 to 15000 INR, the company eyes to incorporate Windows in its handsets in the next quarter along with launching smartphones with 4G technology in the last quarter of the current financial year.

What is product distribution strategy?

Iris Computers from Delhi will be handling the warehousing and logistics. We have identified individual distributors for all the key cities in India who will be stocking products from Iris. From the distributors, the product will go to the dealers followed by the customers. Using this short gear channel, we are able to provide aggressive pricing of the products and allow good margins to the distribution channel partners.

Which regions are you targeting now and why?

We are targeting all emerging market like South Asia, South America after we firmly establish our presence in India which has again in this segment.

What is your marketing strategy?

We are identified our target market primarily the youth between 15-25 years and are getting all effort in terms of campaigns, OOH, online, demo handsets, advertising to promote and market our product.

What are your business expectations and target that you have set out to meet?

The company aims to sell around 1.6 to 1.7 mn products and expects to clock close to 1000 crore revenue by the end of this fiscal.