According to a latest reports, the retailers like Croma, Future Group, Planet M Retail, Next Retail, Sangeetha Mobiles, Reliance Retail and Lot Mobiles have refused to sell Google’s Android One handsets in India. The three Android One handsets are priced in the range of Rs 5,885 and Rs 6,499. These handsets were developed by three Indian vendors and were launched through online retailers Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal. As per industry estimates, only 12% of smartphone sales are driven by e-commerce in India.
Sangeetha Mobiles MD Subhash Chandra told a publication that since Android One decided not to sell in physical stores during its launch, they as part of modern trade have decided not to stock Android One either.The MobileStore and UniverCell had started selling the Karbonn Android One handset two weeks ago, but now company officials said they might not expand the portfolio.
The MobileStore chief executive officer Himanshu Chakravarti said that since Android One has not been as successful as they expected, the retailer will monitor the demand for the next 2-3 weeks before taking a call on whether to stock the other two models.
According to Cybex Exim report, Micromax had imported about 1.32 lakh units of Canvas A1 device in October as compared to 1.19 lakh in September, Karbonn imported about 34,390 units of Sparkle V handset in October, half of 67,440 units imported in September. Spice brought 34,390 units in October, compared with 43,100 units in September.
Besides cold customer response, Android One phones face a strong competition from the likes of Xiaomi, Motorola, which are also offering phones with high-speed phones at low price. While Google is said to be ready to spend as much as Rs 100 crore in marketing the initiative, it has so far failed to convey how these devices and its operating system that offer Google Services like Maps and Google Now, are different.
Android One is an important initiative for Google, which aims to reach out to a large number of first-time Internet-enabled phone users. Its success in India will encourage the company to extensively focus on the initiative in other emerging countries as well.
Source- Economic Times
