When recalling the old BlackBerry Era, the most magnificent and best premium smartphone around the world comes to our mind. Yes, we are all well aware of the popularity and craze of blackberry in the early 2000s. BlackBerry smartphones were considered as the possession for all those symbolizing high-status people, rich and popular professionals. Also, Blackberry promised the complete and strong security of its users’ privacy.
By the year 2009-2010, the BlackBerry smartphone gathered more than 85 million users who contributed highly to the success graph of this company. In fact, Blackberry owned over 50% of the US market share as well as 20% of the Global Market share at a single time.
However, by the year 2010, a sudden downfall occurred in the growth of BlackBerry. And soon by 2012, it came down to less than 5% of the market share. So, the question arises, How all of a sudden BlackBerry failed?
This came up to these points:
The Reddit forum/wallstreetbets holds the dependence of the growth to great profit as the technology company is suffering for a long time. Rather of the fact that BlackBerry shares rise from day traders.
Failed to strengthen the innovative features and resulted in being the example for the changes occurring in smartphones.
Other companies are evolving with great fascinating and advanced features, while BlackBerry suffered majorly in offering new features for the convenience of customers.
As the era of advanced technology evolved, Blackberry experienced some major drawbacks which could not be settled. In this article, we’ll get brief on how BlackBerry: Leader failed with no other choices. Let’s get started!
The company, Blackberry was established in 1984 with the production house for only modems and pagers. However, in 2000, BlackBerry launched its first-ever model of smartphone which was named BlackBerry 957. It’s the first model of smartphone that contains the features of surfing on the Internet and sending momentum emails.
In the 2000s, BlackBerry was known as the most standard and premium brand for great business executives and also, those who maintained their privacy and security.
However when the advanced tech company, Apple launched its first smartphone in 2007; BlackBerry experienced good competition in the market. Later, as the technology evolved and other companies like Google launched their phones, the substantial competition began.
With the exponential growth graph of BlackBerry, no one even wondered that this company would fail! But soon after the year 2010, its growth graph experienced a great downfall. And, that’s where the end of BlackBerry’s era begins.
When BlackBerry reached its peak, it took several non-strategic and unreasonable steps that resulted in some big losses. Likewise, it raised its highest stock with the value of $230 which is now worth $4. BlackBerry, a company with enormous goals and plans, failed due to its raging in no time.
These are some points that led to the failure of BlackBerry.
Hardware Innovation
With the evolving technology, BlackBerry was considered to be overpricing on its average hardware system. Soon as Apple and Samsung launched their smartphones with a complete touch screen body.
Also, after the typing is done, the keyword would disappear giving you a huge space for other purposes. However, BlackBerry with its QWERTY keyboard lacked such features and became a big reason for BlackBerry to fail.
Nonetheless, Blackberry did not invest in making a complete touch screen body, instead, it kept making phones with the outer keyboard such as Blackberry Key 2. That’s why its sales dropped by a major number.
BlackBerry majorly focused on the richer section such as Celebrities, Businessmen and other rich administrators. They tend to carry BlackBerry showing their superiority. They used Blackberry because:
Powerful end-to-end encryption security
Advanced PDA that majorly helped in their business
Email services
But, soon as iPhone sales increased, Blackberry lost its enormous target audience and importance in just a little period.
Furthermore, BlackBerry only focused on enterprise-level marketing and neglected the consumer portion. This also played a big role in its failure.
Research and Development
BlackBerry did not fail. It lacked innovation and advanced features because it has always been up with technology and supervisions. But the reason why BlackBerry failed is money.
BlackBerry’s innovation and features came from Research & Development (R&D). But this required money and due to the decreased sales and other failures, it could not invest its money in the R&D.
That’s why BlackBerry could not evolve from its basic potential. Later, BlackBerry’s brand was sold by RIM to TCD (a Chinese firm).
Operating System
BlackBerry’s operating system lacked some major features and technology. It does not allow the developers to build apps on an abundance scale. Other Operating systems give a free directory for developers to build apps accordingly.
However, Android and iOS allowed the customization of applications as they could be removed and added as per the convenience of users.
Therefore, developers were absolutely happy with Android and iOS. Still, BlackBerry kept on developing its own OS which was a disaster.
BlackBerry ultimately brought new smartphones with demanding features to regain its lost significance and customers. It launched Priv with the features like a dual-curved UHD display, pop-up widgets, 3GB RAM and snapdragon 808 CPU. But, this was too late. The phone was an absolute failure. Its product quality and features lacked some major technology.
BlackBerry did not imply adding new features or advanced OS and because of this, the potential consumers of BlackBerry shifted back to Android and iOS.
FAQ
What caused the downfall of BlackBerry?
The reasons BlackBerry failed is that it didn’t adapted new technology, lack of consumer insight and poor design which led to its demise.
When was Blackberry Founded?
Blackberry was founded in 1984.
When did BlackBerry go out of business?
Blackberry in 2016 decided to stop making its own phones, after years of failures.
Conclusion
Today, the production of BlackBerry smartphones has been completely shut down. It has turned back to software and mobile security solutions. BlackBerry succeeded in the market because of its advanced technology and left behind the less-evolved technology. Yet when it came to evolving BlackBerry’s technology, it failed because of its incapability to judge and compete with the competition level of the market.
BlackBerry left some major points and examples for other tech companies that to survive in the technology world, you need to keep evolving your features and technology.
Snapchat is an American based social media company. It is a multimedia messaging app which is developed by Snap Inc. Snapchat has a lot of features and one of the prime features of the company is that the message and the images that are sent are usually for a short period of time and later the users will not be able to access it.
Snapchat has around 265 million daily active users, with the app available in more than 30 languages. In this article let’s look at why the CEO of Snapchat had said that the app wouldn’t exist without Apple.
Evan Spiegel who is the CEO of Snapchat had recently conveyed that the mobile application Snapchat wouldn’t exist without Apple’s iPhone. This was regarding the new policy of Apple where they had conveyed that they would charge 30% fees on any in-app transactions on various platforms.
The CEO of Snapchat had conveyed that they don’t have any problem in paying the amount charged by Apple and to the rules set by Apple. He added that the company doesn’t have a choice but to accept the 30% fees charged by Apple but the company was happy to pay them in exchange for the amazing technology which is provided by Apple in terms of software as well as the advancements provided in their hardware.
Regarding the new update for the iPhone users with regards to privacy, Evan Spiegel has said that Snapchat is on the same page as of Apple and conveyed that they are aligned with the company to helping in protecting the privacy policy.
The CEO of Snapchat had also stated that their investment in the privacy policy made 10 years earlier is really paying off right now. The ATT is expected to create an impact on the advertising business model of social media companies like Facebook and Snapchat which the CEO of Snapchat is very well aware of.
Steps taken by Snapchat towards Apple’s Privacy update
Snapchat’s CEO has said that he is very well aware of how the update of Apple would impact their business model and he also said that the company has been working with their advertisers to in order to shift to the new ad tracking network of Apple.
Apple uses the ad tracking network to measure the effectiveness of the advertisements on the mobile applications. Spiegel has conveyed that the transition has gone smoothly for their business.
Some experts believe that snapchat works better on iPhone because it has different OS than android.
What are Apple’s new privacy changes?
With Apple’s latest software update, iPhone and iPad users will now encounter pop-ups in the apps they use, asking whether the user wants to allow the app “to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites.
Who is the CEO of Snapchat?
Evan Spiegel is the CEO of Snapchat.
Conclusion
The App Tracking business model of Apple had seen a lot of criticism including the social media giant Facebook claiming that this model was set to increase their profits and not keeping in mind the privacy of the users. However, the new feature is live for all iPhone users across the world.
LG is a South Korean company that was one of the leading manufacturers of mobile phones. The company has maintained the No 3 position in the manufacturing of the smartphones for a very long time. The company has been finding it hard to maintain its financial position and to increase the sales of the mobile phones amid the competitors.
Recently the company has announced that it is going to shut down the mobile phone business. Let’s look at why the company has decided to shut down its mobile phone business.
On 5 April 2020, LG had announced that it will shut down its mobile phone business. The South Korean firm LG had said in a statement that their Board of Directors had approved the decision to discontinue the business.
This unsurprising move from the company comes after its statement in the month of January, where LG had told that it was trying to review the direction of their smartphone business. The company has announced that it will close down its mobile business worldwide.
LG has become the latest legacy phone to exit the mobile phone making business. The company said that it will shut down its mobile phone business by the end of July.
The company has been struggling to compete with the global competitors such as Apple, Samsung, One Plus, and Xiaomi who dominates the mobile phone market. Apple and Samsung are the only brands that have maintained their sales over the years in this market.
Even the legacy phone brands such as Nokia and Blackberry have faced a lot of struggle and have lost their market domination. LG had failed to keep their products with the competitors and the new players are providing smartphones with better software and Operating systems at a reasonable price.
In 2007, LG was the fifth biggest smartphone maker globally. This was when the first iPhone was launched and went into sale. In the fourth quarter of 2020, LG couldn’t get ranked in the list of top whereas Huawei which is struggling because of certain US sanctions has managed to be in the fifth position.
LG Failed to make its mark
Over the past decade, it became harder to get consumer attention in mobile because of the growth of Android phones. LG had been experimenting with a lot of innovative designs in the last couple of years to attract the consumers.
LG continuously focused on two segments in the market which were high-end and mid-range smartphones. These two segments have become very competitive in the past decade because of the Chinese smartphone manufacturers such as Huawei, One Plus, Oppo, Xiaomi, and Vivo.
These companies have been releasing new models with software updates and the latest camera feature phones every often.
LG has told that it will continue to sell the smartphones as long as their already manufactured and stored inventory is exhausted. The company also said that it will continue providing services to their existing customers such as software updates, customer support, etc. for a period of time. They said that it would differ from one particular region to another.
On the request towards the company’s US business on how long will LG provide services to US customers did not receive any reply. A representative of AT&T has told that they are aware of LG shutting down their mobile phone business and added on saying that they would continue to support the people who use LG devices on their network as LG makes this move. This step is taken by AT&T as a commitment towards their customers.
Number of smartphones sold to end users worldwide
Future of LG Employees
It is said that LG will likely lay off some of their workforce. Some of them would probably be transferred to the other sectors of LG’s business. The company has a lot of employees around the world as it has phone manufacturing centers in China, Vietnam, and Brazil.
The company is trying to repurpose its manufacturing facilities to be used for the manufacture of other products. Even closure of these facilities is a possibility. They said that the status of their workforce that is involved in the phone business will be decided at their local level.
In the coming years, LG is planning to concentrate on leveraging their expertise in the mobile industry and to develop and work on building mobility-related technologies such as 6G to strengthen their competitiveness in various other business areas.
The company has plans to retain their core technologies that they had developed during the two decades of their mobile manufacturing business. The company is planning to apply it to their existing and future products.
The company has plans to focus more on its smart home products from smartphones. LG is one of the biggest providers of smart home products globally. The company is further planning to concentrate on electric vehicle components, Artificial Intelligence, robotics, business-to-business products, and other connected devices.
FAQ
What does LG stand for?
The company’s original name was Lucky Goldstar but it has become more synonymous with the company’s tag line “Life’s Good”.
Is LG going to stop making phones?
LG has released a statement saying that it is getting out of its mobile phone business to focus on other products and services.
Is LG is an Indian company?
No, LG is an South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation founded by Koo In-hwoi.
Conclusion
LG’s poor financial performance in their smartphone business and the information regarding it has been public for the past few years. Just like other legacy phones even LG has failed to retain in the mobile manufacturing business and to turn things around.
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational company. It deals in telecommunications, consumer electronics, and information technology. The company was founded in the year 1865. It has its headquarters in Finland.
Nokia is the world’s third-largest network equipment manufacturer according to 2018. The company had 1,03,000 employees and businesses in around 130 countries. Recently the company had announced that it would cut more than 10,000 jobs to reduce the costs of the company.
Certain reasons for cutting down on the jobs would include investing into research facilities.
The new CEO of the company has new plans for the growth of Nokia. After being appointed as the CEO last year, Pekka Lundmark has been taking steps to recover Nokia’s products. Under the previous management, there were certain missteps taken regarding the product. This led to the fall of Nokia and destroyed its ambitions in the 5G sector.
Nokia has announced a new strategy in October. According to the strategy Nokia will have four business groups. Pekka Lundmark also said that the company would do anything that would take for them to maintain the lead in 5G.
It is expected that Pekka Lundmark will discuss the long-term strategy, financial targets, and action plans during the company’s capital markets day.
Reasons for Job cut
According to the new strategy the company is trying to cut down the costs of the business. The company had said in a statement that by the year 2023 the company expects its restructuring and associated charges to be in between 600 million Euros (around INR 5,100 crores) to 700 million Euros (around 6,100 crores).
After the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent which was a global telecommunication company, Nokia to cut thousands of Jobs. As of now, Nokia has around 90,000 employees.
The company expects that the recent restructuring programme would reduce the company’s cost by around 600 million Euros by the end of 2023. Half of the savings of the restructuring programme are expected to be realized by 2021. Reducing down the costs is one of the major reasons for cutting down the jobs of employees.
Nokia to Invest in Research and Development
The company is planning to invest more into Research and Development programmes for improving on the product and to make changes in the missteps taken during the previous management.
Sami Sarkamies who is an analyst working with Nordea said that the saving programme of Nokia is bigger than it was expected. He said that the interesting fact would be that it would not result in reducing the costs.
Sami Sarkamies also said that the company is trying to focus on Research and Development by shifting its focus from general costs. He also added that the shift in focus would result in better margins and growth of the company in the future.
The new management under Pekka Lundmark had predicted its profit outlook and had stopped the dividend payouts. This was after the missteps taken regarding the product by the previous management. It had reduced the market share of Nokia.
The company has a forecast of 21.8 billion euros (around 1.8 lakh crores) to 21.9 (around 1.89 lakh crores) in 2020. It has plans to invest more into the future capabilities which include 5G, digital infrastructure, and cloud.
Nokia’s net sales from 2010 to 2020
Competition of Nokia
Nokia had lost a lot of contracts and has seen the value of its share to decline. Nokia and the Swedish company have been competing with each other in rolling out 5G networks. Ericsson has a lead in acquiring customers. It has won a contract with China for 5G radio contracts.
While Nokia has not won any contracts with China and they also lost a contract with Verizon to supply 5G equipment. The Verizon contract was undertaken by Samsung Electronics.
Nokia is setting up its new plans to challenge Swedish company Ericsson and China’s Huawei. The company is working towards catching its lead with 5G and also trying to capture shares of Huawei.
FAQ
Who is the founder of Nokia?
Fredrik Idestam, Leo Mechelin, and Eduard Polón founded Nokia in 1865.
Is Nokia Indian company?
Nokia is an Finland based company which was recently taken over by HMD Global.
Why did Nokia fail in India?
After 2007, Nokia failed to sense that trends were changing and ignored the changing demands that led to fail of Nokia in India.
Conclusion
The Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark said that decisions regarding their employees, that would have a potential impact on them are never taken too lightly. He also said that everyone impacted through this process is supported through this and that would be his priority.
A representative of Nokia said that these plans are Global and it would likely affect a lot of countries. They have informed the local works council in Europe and the consultation process is expected to start soon according to the applicability.
BBK electronics is a Chinese multinational conglomerate. It owns over half of the smartphone market in India through its subsidiaries OPPO, VIVO, Realme, iQOO and OnePlus. It has been branded as the most innovative company for its ingenious strategy. BBK has multiple brands to cater to every market segment from entry-level models to mid-range and premium models. In 2017, BBK electronics emerged as the second-largest producer of smartphones by shipping over 56.7 million smartphones, beating Apple and Huawei.
BBK Electronics was founded in the year 1998 by a Chinese billionaire and entrepreneur Duan Yongping. After he left his gaming company Subor which was a heavy competitor to Nintendo in the 1990s. He started an electronics manufacturing company named Bubugao, which later was renamed BBK electronics. BBK Electronics specialized in consumer electronics such as television sets, CD and DVD players, Blu ray players, digital cameras and smartphones.
The Strategy Behind Each of their Brands
OPPO
In 2004 that Duan founded OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp. Ltd. with CEO Tony Chen. The company got into the mobile phones market in the year 2008. In another 5 years it became the second most profitable company in China alongside other players like Huawei, ZTE, Xiaomi and Lenovo.
Oppo first made its presence in 2014 in the Indian smartphone market with the release of its flagship device Oppo N1. With an overall market share of just 4%, Oppo needed a better marketing strategy to stay in the competition. Since then Oppo used various marketing strategies like celebrity marketing, retail marketing, sponsor marketing etc. to increase brand awareness.
Oppo is also known for its retail strategy having opened more than 600 stores in shopping malls and plans to add 400 more stores by the end of 2020. Oppo has an international presence across 21 countries globally. Oppo has made its name as selfie expert technology and is ranked 4th for creating the best selfie experiences among the younger generations globally.
They were also the first to feature an in-display front-facing camera, meaning you won’t be able to see the camera hidden under the display. Oppo’s success does not come from any complex marketing strategy but based on a customer-oriented strategy to provide a better customer experience.
Oppo owns most of its supply chain and distribution networks. They have manufacturing units that produce all the devices and equipment. While companies like Samsung, Huawei etc. are focused on all segments from entry-level to high-end mobiles, Oppo has its offering on high-end specs with low prices.
Vivo was founded in the year 2009 by CEO Shen Wei. It was in 2011 that Vivo smartphones first appeared with the focus on ultra-slim factor and relying on celebrity endorsements to capitalize on the smartphone boom. Vivo’s core business lies in the mid-range smartphone section, however recently the brand had stepped into concept APEX and NEX ranges.
Vivo NEX was the first truly bezel-less smartphone with a selfie pop-up camera. Vivo is also known for its Hi-Fi technology, which is short for high fidelity audio experience. They market themselves as a camera and music smartphone model. Vivo entered the Indian market in late 2014 with the world’s officially slimmest smartphone. Vivo was the first to introduce an in-display fingerprint scanner with its Chinese model Vivo X20 Plus UD. It also came up with the fastest charging technology called VOOC and super flash technology.
Vivo has a very proactive advertising and marketing strategy. It uses medium such as print, television advertising and social media marketing to promote its products.
For an example, Vivo had already replaced PepsiCo to become the official sponsor for Indian Premier League Season (IPL) in 2016. Vivo promotes its wide range of products by advertising on billboards using an extensive OOH (OutOfHome) campaign.
OnePlus was founded in the year 2014 by Pete Lau and Carl Lei. OnePlus launched one smartphone every year, unlike any other smartphone brand who have unveiled 4 to 5 products every year. The chose to launch all their products exclusively through online marketplace Amazon and have opened thier stores in selected cities.
It has made its mark in the premium smartphone category and its tie-ups with OTT platforms like Netflix have further increased the brand reputation. The brand slogan is “Never Settle” which became very popular among young generation. Users started to opt OnePlus phones which provided higher specifications and are cheaper compared to their premium end rivals such as Samsung and Apple.
Netflix OnePlus tie-up
OnePlus is known for making viral waves with its invite-only system. OnePlus adopted influencer marketing to reach a variety of audience. It built an online platform for technology enthusiasts to discuss android app development related queries.
OnePlus also has some amazing brand ambassadors such as Robert Downey Jr. and Amitabh Bachchan. It has made an aggressive campaign online to promote sales, which are usually booked within moments as the sales go live.
Realme was founded in the year 2018 by former OPPO vice president Sky Li. Realme was introduced in the Indian market as a competition against another Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi which dominated the lower price segment. Realme adopted Xiaomi’s strategy and sold most of its phones through an online channel. It has also partnered with offline retail chains to expand its reach. Realme has adopted slogans like Dare to Leap, dare to buy, to promote purchase of their smartphone. They target young consumers through social media marketing campaigns and viral media campaigns.
IQOO
The latest smartphone from BBK electronics to enter the competitive Indian smartphone market is IQOO (pronounced I-koo). With the launch of premium smartphone IQOO 3, the phone comes with both 4G and its 5G variants. They are focused on providing an advanced smartphone to grow its small user base.
Virat Kohli Brand ambassador of IQOO
IQOO partnered with Flipkart on the distribution end and endorsed by Indian cricketer Virat Kohli. Initially released through online stores they are planning on setting up offline stores, so that customers can get a hands-on experience of device functionality.
FAQ
Is Xiaomi owned by BBK?
BBK does not own Xiaomi. BBK owns 5 smartphone brands that are Oppo, Vivo, Oneplus, Realme and iQOO.
Who is the owner of BBK Electronics?
Duan Yongping is the founder and owner of BBK Electronics.
How much is BBK Electronics worth?
BBK Electronics was estimated at $77 billion as of 2020.
Is Nokia a Chinese company?
Nokia is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics company.
Conclusion
Owing to the well-established supply chain and distribution centers set up by Vivo and Oppo, these brands can enter the markets pretty easily. Whereas OnePlus has set its user base primarily in the North American, European and Indian Markets. As OnePlus is starting to cater to the mid-range segments with a device like “Nord”. Vivo and Oppo are entering the premium segment.
Realme is proving itself as a leading competitor in the entry-level mobile segment challenging the likes of Xiaomi. Vivo’s IQOO brand is targeting premium segment with the introduction of 5G flagship smartphones in Indian markets.
BBK electronics has reached this level of success by wisely adopting an age-old adage which states to don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Every brand under the parent company BBK electronics has its range of products towards each market segment, So if one fails, they can depend on the other to make a profit.
The Indian Smartphone market is known to be the second largest smartphone market around the world according to the Counterpoint’s market monitor. In 2019 alone the mobile phone shipment to India increased to 158 million with a 7% annual growth. This is because popularity of the good quality and mid-range smartphones provided by the Chinese phone companies. Many Indians are now supporting the boycott of Chinese products amidst the ongoing border tensions between the two countries. But despite the Anti-China sentiments, the Chinese brands dominated the Indian smartphone market with a market share of 75% in 2020.
Indian buyers have been partial to the foreign brands, especially to the Chinese and American brands like Samsung, Apple, Oneplus, Oppo, Vivo, Xiomi, Realme, etc in the smartphone market. Although with the current situation with the border issues between the two countries, the market is slowly seeing a shift with the home grown brands getting a chance to gain a better market share in the business. It also might be surprising to some people that they are already many Indian mobile phone companies like Micromax, Intex, Karbonn, Lava, etc, that disappeared because of the growing competition with the Chinese companies.
These Indian companies have a long history of coming out with good mobile phones, with good quality, build, stunning features, advanced technology and lower/affordable prices targeted especially at the local audience. Some of these brands have also achieved a lot of success when they first came out, but now are nowhere to be seen. The recent bans on Chinese apps by the government have made many Indians keen on using Made in India products, and this gives our Indian mobile companies the opportunity to make a comeback with new smartphones.
Recently, Micromax has announced that it will be coming up with new phones and reentering the smartphone market. Other companies like Lava, Intex and Karbonn have the potential to make a strong comeback, but have not come with anything yet. Below are the top 8 Indian smartphone companies that have the potential and could come back in the Indian smartphone market:
Micromax Informatics is a home grown multinational electronics company. Micromax specializes in making laptops, smartphones, tablets, LED televisions and other home appliances. The company is known for manufacturing products at a low cost less and making it affordable to the common man. The company was founded in 2000, by four college friends Mohit Sharma, Dewas and Rohit Patel and has its headquarters in Gurgaon, Haryana. Micromax was first established as an IT software company that focused on democratizing technology in order to compete with International players.
why Indian mobile companies failed
The company entered the market in 2008 and quickly became one of the most leading consumers electronics company including the 10thlargest mobile phone brands in the world. Micromax still faces a huge competition with the Chinese brand in the Indian market. Micromax is also popular because it has introduced low budget phones with innovative features, which is why the company made X1i phone which became the first telephone with a battery that lasts for a month. In 2014, it became the first Indian company to sell in Russia. The company has two main sectors which are Mobile handset that include feature phones and smartphones.
The second is Consumer electronics that include Air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machine and LED television. Micromax also owns YU Televentures, which sells mobile phones under the name of YU. By 2014, the company grew so popular that it got Hugh Jackman to be its ambassador. Micromax made it comeback in 2020 which a smart phone sub brand called IN. The company is now aims at expending its portfolio in the consumer’s electronics sector and targeting a wider target audience which are premium economy consumers.
Company Name
Micromax
Headquaters
Gurugoan, Haryana
Founded On
2000
CEO
Rahul Sharma
Employees
20,000
Annual Revenue
US $330 million
Products & Services
Smartphones, Tablets, Web browser, Air conditioner, LED TVs, laptops, power banks
Lava International is an Indian Smartphone company which also manufactures products like Television and Laptops. The company was founded by Hari Om Rai, Sunil Bhalla, Shailendra Nath Rai and Vishal Sehgal in 2009. The company is also headquartered in Noida of Uttar Pradesh. The multinational company has its operations in many countries such as India, China, Russia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan even launching some of its products in countries like Egypt and Africa. Similar to Micromax, Lava also focuses on making low budget or affordable devices.
The company that started out as a telecommunications venture was given the title of the Most trustworthy Brand in the CMR retail sentiment index in the year of 2018. The company also faced a big competition from the Chinese companies in the Indian smartphone market, making it get into financial problem in 2018 making it delay payments to vendors and employees. The company is also known to be having a facility in China which is specifically for the design and development of its products.
Logos of Indian mobile companies
The company now has a distribution model which is only single layer, which includes more than 900 distributors across the country. The company is now aiming to establish a mobile phone design centre and more manufacturing facilities in India. Lava was the first company to launch 4G enabled phone in India through its 4G Connect M14, in 2017. Lava has also launched Z1, Z2, Z4, Z6 and myZ in January 2021 which are the world’s first customizable smartphone. It has also recently launched BeFIT Fitness brand.
Intex Technology is an Indian multinational company that manufactures budget friendly smartphones and gadgets. The company makes a wide variety of products such as Smartphones, PC, mobile accessories, LED Television, speakers, IT appliances and Home appliances. Intex was founded in 1996 and has its headquarters in New Delhi. The company was founded by Narendra Bansal who wanted the bridge the gap between the rich and the poor by reducing the digital divide between urban and rural.
The company also makes PCs and various products for computers like TFT – LCD Monitors, CRT monitors, Fax modems, keyboards, mouse, SMPS and UPS systems, headphones, DVD Players, MP3 players and many more. Intex was the first Indian company to launch the 3G sim enabled watch called the iRist. The company at a certain point was India’s second largest mobile phone company by sales.
Intex is still producing devices and gadgets in other sectors but has not made new phones in a while especially since the rise of Chinese phones in the Indian market. The company began LED Television business in which it has seen a growth of over 150 %. The company now focuses on IT hardware and distributing electronic in India. It has also big names such as Madhuri Dixit and Kiccha Sudeep as its brand ambassadors and owns an IPL franchise from 2016 to 2017 known as Gujarat Lions.
Company Name
Intex Technology
Headquaters
New Delhi
Founded On
1996
CEO
Keshav Bansal
Employees
10,000
Annual Revenue
US $870 million
Products & Services
Smartphones, Tablets, mobile phones, washing machine, LED TVs, UPS, webcams, security cameras, refrigerators, ACs
Karbonn is an Indian company that manufactures smartphones, tablets and even mobile accessories. This smartphone company is a joint venture of the Jaina Group from Delhi and UTL Group from Bengaluru. The company came to existence in 2009 after being founded by Sudhir Hasija and Pardeep Jain and is headquartered in New Delhi, India. The companies sells its products in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, European Countries and Middle East.
Karbonn mobile have also collaborated with telecom companies like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Jio. Karbonn is also given the rank of being one of the most trusted brands in India. The company was created after the maker’s infamous deal with the Eros International Media Ltd for whom they had to manufacture about 500,000 merchandise Kochadaiyaan which is a upcoming movie of that time.
The company then collaborated with Hungama.com and have their app preinstalled in their phones. The company worked with Google and manufactured Karbonn Sparkle V which was one first android one phones in India. The company like other also faces competition from the Chinese brands and has also not launched any new models for a few years.
Company Name
Karbonn
Headquaters
New Delhi
Founded On
2009
CEO
Pardeep Jain
Employees
10,000
Annual Revenue
US $91 million
Products & Services
Smartphones, Tablets
India manufacturing phones
iBall Mobile
iBall is as India electronics company that manufactures a wide range of products such as smartphones, tablets, web camera, PC cabinets, earphones, desk sets, keyboards, headsets, speakers, pen drives, USB products, LED monitors, chargers, etc. The company was founded in 2001 by Anil Pararampuria and has its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company also makes low budget smartphones, PC and tablets and its accessories.
iBall first started out by making computer mouse, but is known for its 2014 projects named Andi Udaan through which it made smartphones for blind women. The phone was designed in way that it had a SOS button behind the phone which made to create sounds and send automatic messages and calls to five contacts when it is pressed. In 2015 and 2016 iBall collaborated with Intel and Microsoft to launch the country most affordable Windows 10 laptop which is iBall CompBook at Rs 9,999.
Company Name
iBall Mobile
Headquaters
Mumbai, Maharashtra
Founded On
2001
CEO
Sandeep Parasrampuria
Employees
2,000
Annual Revenue
US $170 million
Products & Services
Smartphones, Tablets, mobile phones, speakers, laptops, routers, webcams, security cameras
Xolo is an Indian mobile phone company which is a subsidiary to Lava International. The company was in 2012 and is headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The company is known for its smartphones, tablets, laptops and accessories like power banks. Xolo is credited for being the first company that launched a smartphone (X900) with the Intel processor in India.
The company also aims in manufactures high quality smartphone with lower cost smartphones. It was the first Indian company to be the regional partner of the Liverpool FC. Xolo also launched a tablet named Xolo Win tablet and the first 4G enabled smartphone (LT900) in India in 2013.
It also credited for introducing the first dual camera phone in India. The Xolo Black made with the partnership with Flipkart, while the Xolo era series was made in partnership with Snapdeal. Xolo introduced a lot of new features like dual 4G sims and up to 512 GB of ram in its Xolo A500 phone which came out in 2013. The company has also recently developed its own unique UI for android phone known as Hive UI. Xolo ZX smartphone is the last phone the company in 2019.
Company Name
Xolo
Headquaters
Noida, Uttar Pradesh
Founded On
2012
CEO
Vishal Sehgal
Employees
1,371
Products & Services
Smartphones, Tablets, Hive UI, Laptops
Lyf
Lyf or Reliance Lyf is a smartphone company that belongs to Reliance Jio which is a subsidiary of the Reliance Industries Limited. The company was founded in 2015 by Mukesh Ambani and is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company started out by making affordable smartphones which was named after elements of nature such as LYF Water, LYF Earth, LYF Fire with free Jio sim cards.
This led it to becoming the fifth largest smartphone manufacturer and the second largest 4G LTE smartphone maker in 2016. The company also had partnered with Amazon and Grofers to deliver its phones. But after the short success the company stopped producing new phones.
YU Televentures is an Indian electronics company that is a subsidiary of Micromax Informatics and Cyanogen Inc. Yu was founded as a joint venture from the companies in 2014 and is headquartered in Gurgoan, Haryana. Micromax’s Co-Founder Rahul Sharma is known to own 99% of stakes in YU. Some of the best models created by the company are YU Yunique 2, YU Yureka 2 and YU Ace. However YU was discontinued by Micromax as it was merged with the company.
Company Name
YU Televentures
Headquaters
Gurgoan, Haryana
Founded On
2014
Founder
Rahul Sharma
Products & Services
Smartphones, pocket printer, Power bank
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
What are the Top Indian mobile companies?
YU Televentures
Lyf
Xolo smartphone
iBall Mobile
Karbonn Mobiles
Micromax
Lava International
Intex
What are the Chinese companies dominating the Indian smartphones market?
Lakshya Singh
