It wasn’t just the pricing that did iPhone in. Apple got everything-starting with marketing communication to the sales and distribution model-wrong, say analysts.

These finer points can be counted for why India cannot be a potential market. The reasons for the debacle varies from company’s marketing strategy to consumer’s need.

Perspective 1 :India ’s Consumer’s need

• Texting or SMS is the hottest mobile thing in India – It is not so comfortable with the touchscreen keypad in the iPhones
• No Video Recording – iPhone sure comes with a camera but not sophisticated enough for video recording which is so much fun for all.
• TouchScreen phones are still not popular
• Mobile Web is not big in India but its Growing - mobile internet usage is still small compared to PC internet usage. iPhone Web Apps is a totally new area and mobile internet is the backbone for these iPhone apps which are heavily data driven. If Apple can force the Operators like Airtel and Vodafone to bring out unlimited GPRS plans then things might change.
• Users dont spend much on Value Added Services such as ringtones,songs etc - We Indians spend a lot on phones for sure but mainly for calls and messages nothing more.

Alright… But such reasons on consumer’s need would prove ambiguous for why iPhones are still not so infamous in India. “Around 120 million handsets are sold in India every year and, of these, almost 4% to 5% are smartphones. Nokia has around 60-70% share of this market,” says Gartner’s Gupta. Sure, there is a way to get going with iPhones for India!

Perspective2: Company’s Marketing Strategy

Selling huge numbers in India was not even Apple’s game plan, it seems. Around the time of its launch, the company had said it hoped to sell 10 million units globally by December, whereas in India, it would ship 100,000 phones by December 2009. Clearly, Apple wasn’t expecting big sales from the market. It does not seem that Apple ever thought it would make a huge splash in India, allocating just 50,000 iPhones to that market.

“The company failed to strike a connect with Indian consumers. That, according to me, is their biggest failure and it may have repercussions for them in future as well. Whether they sold enough numbers or not is secondary. A brand like Apple need not be told that an iconic product needs iconic advertising, a solid marketing push,” says Prathap Suthan, national creative director of advertising agency Cheil Communications India.

Reasons for the tepid debut of the iPhone in India: price, promotion, and distribution. For one, pricing was always going to be part of it. At $800, the gadget was without a doubt expensive, especially considering a typical IT worker’s annual salary ranges from $12,000-$24,000. Indian consumers were well aware that the iPhone was selling in the US for $199, but Apple made no attempt to explain the sizable cost difference—that subsidzing handsets isn’t common practice in the Indian market as it is in the US. The price of the iPhone is not just the problem. Shedloads of other smartphones are selling well in India. It seems that Apple and its carrier partners Bharti Airtel and Vodafone didn’t promote the iPhone as aggressively as was done in other countries.

Voices from Marketing Researchers assert the above mentioned reasons.

“Besides a very high price tag, one main reason behind iPhone’s failure in India is that there was a very weak link as far as consumer confidence was concerned,” says Anshul Gupta, senior research analyst, Gartner Inc., an information technology research and advisory firm.

“The company failed to strike a connect with Indian consumers. That, according to me, is their biggest failure and it may have repercussions for them in future as well. Whether they sold enough numbers or not is secondary. A brand like Apple need not be told that an iconic product needs iconic advertising, a solid marketing push,” says Prathap Suthan, national creative director of advertising agency Cheil Communications India.

vKewl is featured with video recording capability and it has a 1.8-inch display with 262k TFT. Its video recording potential is improved with its 1.3 mega pixel camera. Adding, it has MP3 player, FM radio, MMS, speaker and weighs about 85gms. Its other accessories include stereo headset, USB data cable, and PC assistant CD.

vKewl, a CDMA phone comes with prepaid connection and lifetime incoming validity. It provides a talk time for upto 310 minutes. Further, it supports for WAP and MicroSD card which makes it more valuable at its affordable price Rs.3499.

Spice D-88 Gold comes with dual SIM facility providing dual SIM access to the users. It allows the users to make synchronized calls and messages on both CDMA and GSM SIMs. One of the very useful features of this handset is its ability to switch between CDMA and GSM connection without re-booting the handset.

D-88 Gold has FM recording and playback facility which makes it more impressive. It also has 1.3 Megapixel camera with multi-shot photo mode that helps in capturing images in different views.

Adding, it has stereo-Bluetooth, JAVA support and Remote Control Application.  The Bluetooth and other functionalities available in the D-88 Gold assist users to lead their business presentation in a better way. It comes with Opera Mini web browser which facilitates for easy browsing. D-88 Gold also acts as a Modem which makes it a striking feature of the mobile phone.

It has 512 MB free memory card and it supports for an expandable memory upto 2GB. Also, the songs of Dostana are loaded as default. It is more pleasing with its Gold finishing which makes it more attractive.

Spice D-88 Gold is available in the market at price of Rs 8,999.

The new data card claims to offer affordable voice and data connectivity to the subscribers in the city. It also offers faster speed and consistency than Dial up Internet connection.

Speaking on the occasion, Sashi Shankar, Chief Operating Officer, IDEA Cellular, Mumbai, said, “By just Plugging in, the new IDEA NetSetter will help mobile Mumbaikars stay connected with the rest of the world. Its compatibility with multiple operating systems such as Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and Mac and attractive price range gives it an edge over other existing USB data cards available in the market today”.

To provide uninterrupted Internet connectivity from remote locations, IDEA comes with an unlimited plan for prepaid customers. As per the new plan, prepaid customers can browse the Internet and download at 1 paise/10KB.

The USB data card is priced at Rs. 2,490. Interested prepaid customers can enjoy the benefits of unlimited plan by sending SMS UNLTD to 51000 . Charges of Rs. 30 per day will apply for monthly subscription of unlimited plan.

IDEA has also introduced an introductory offer for its customers to enjoy 50 MB worth of free download with the prepaid starter pack. IDEA NetSetter is also available for postpaid customers. Additional benefits include allowing the user to send SMS along with group messaging. It s compatible with both laptop and desktop and also provides usage statistics online.

IDEA came to the city recently through the biggest ever single city launch by any telecom company. The launch of NetSetter is the latest in the slew of products and services launched in the city by IDEA recently.

The HTC Touch Pro has a 3D touch interface called the TouchFLO 3D, that provides an intuitive way to plan through tasks like messaging, calendar appointments or making calls with just one touch. HTC Touch Pro and the Touch Viva are touch-based phones for Windows Mobile. These devices are based on the Windows Mobile 6.1 platform

Committed to improving web browsing, HTC has provided a new customized mobile web browser that enables easy viewing and effortless navigation of websites in the way they are designed to be viewed on a PC.

As part of this browsing experience users can zoom and pan websites with one-hand and automatically view optimized content that has been specially created to fit the display. Turning the device sideways automatically rotates the web page view from a portrait to landscape view.

In addition to web browsing, the Touch Pro includes an HTC-developed, YouTube application for watching a variety of user generated video content as well as including Google Maps for mobile.

The Touch Pro introduces a new 5-row QWERTY keyboard layout that makes typing-intensive tasks like composing email or working on Microsoft Office documents quick and easy. It also features a 2.8-inch display and built-in TV-out functionality. The phone has a 2 megapixel camera.

Vodafone Essar, one of India’s leading cellular service providers, launched Voice SMS service in 16 circles across India. With the launch of this service, any Vodafone customer can send a Voice SMS message to a mobile subscriber, anywhere in India, for a fixed price of 75 paise (approximately USD 0.01) per minute. The Voice SMS service is available to both prepaid and postpaid subscribers.

Vodafone has brought the service to market using the Voice SMS solution from Kirusa, the world’s leading vendor of Voice SMS and a leading developer of mobile value-added services.

It is easy to use; this new service enables Vodafone subscribers to send Voice SMS messages to each other in their own voice, rather than by typing. Voice SMS is an enhanced mode of communication enriched with the sender’s voice, language and emotions, and offers complete flexibility in retrievals.

Vodafone’s Voice SMS service does not require any special handsets, or handset settings. To send a message, a Vodafone subscriber simply dials “*” and the mobile number of the person to whom he wishes to send the message, speaks for 30 seconds and disconnects. If the recipient is a Vodafone subscriber, he will receive a text SMS notification and can dial *0* to hear the Voice SMS. Old Voice SMS can be retrieved by dialing *1*. He also has the option of replying, forwarding, saving or deleting the Voice SMS messages. Subscribers who are not on Vodafone network will get a text SMS notification with an embedded DirectListen(TM) number which, when dialed, takes them to the message directly. The message recipient can select to reply after listening to the Voice SMS.

Commenting on the launch, Harit Nagpal, Director Marketing and New Business at Vodafone Essar says, “We are delighted that our subscribers will now have another option of reaching out to their friends, family and business associates.” Kirusa has deployed its Voice SMS application, integrated with HP Opencall Media Platform, in the Vodafone network across India.

Erwan Menard, Vice President and General Manager of Communications and Media Solutions at HP, said “Vodafone Essar is building customer loyalty with this highly innovative service enabled by Kirusa and HP. The HP OpenCall Media Platform and Kirusa’s Voice SMS solution create a powerful combination that will help Vodafone deliver a rich communications experience for its millions of wireless customers.”

Taranjit Singh Batra, VP Sales of Kirusa said “We are excited to work with Vodafone to bring Voice SMS to its subscribers across India. I am sure that with Vodafone entering this market, both the usage and subscriber awareness will accelerate, leading to increased ARPU and incremental revenues”.

The authentication service, launched in partnership with internet infrastructure services provider VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) services, from VeriSign, will help in integrating and streamlining the security networks of organizations and will help prevent account takeovers, the company said in a release.

President, Enterprise Services, Bharti Airtel, David Nishball said “Through the strategic alliance, Airtel is aiming to build an ecosystem, which will allow more safe and secure web transactions to consumers and provide the much-needed impetus to e-commerce and m-transactions. The VIP service offers a token, usable at any VIP member site, which helps end-customers with a two-layer security approach by entering a ‘one time password’ after entering their traditional user name and password. It also includes the VIP Fraud Detection Service, which invisibly monitors for any fraudulent activities. The solutions, available on a hosted platform and hence easy to position, require no additional infrastructure and little operational expenditure. Organizations with huge customer base such as telecoms, e-governance initiatives, healthcare, financial services, insurance networks, broker/dealer can deploy the product” the statement said.

Eminent features, The X1 stands out with its arc-slider design, fully functional nine customizable panels, a 3-inch clear wide VGA display, a full QWERTY keyboard, 4-way key & optical joystick navigation and a 3.2 megapixel auto focus camera within a quality metal-finish body.

The handset also includes a 4GB card, which can be upgrade to 32 GB. Running on Windows Mobile the Xperia X1 has the highest data transfer rate (HSDPA/HSUPA) and Wi-Fi support.

“The Xperia X1 is the first product under Sony Ericsson’s new premium sub-brand Xperia. Designed to meet consumers’ needs for a converged entertainment and mobile web communication experience, it is an exceptionally stylish handset, enhanced by the striking arc-slider design, encased in real stainless steel, to provide quality and durability. The handset is supported by a powerful panel multimedia ecosystem, said Sudhin Mathur, GM, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications.

The XperiaX1 can be personalized through its nine panel user interface. Users feel easy to access through the touch screen and switching between applications by touching one of the customizable panels. The 110.0 x 53.0 x 16.7 millimeters hot phone Xperia X1 is now available in two shades: Steel Silver and Solid Black

No doubt it surely changes the user’s mood and lifestyle. Sony Ericsson, “Xperia X1” will be available at an MRP of Rs. 44,500.

“Offering Zee News content on mobile is our commitment of delivering news to the fingertips of global users across multiple platforms. Our association with One 97 will help the mobile users across India to access the in-depth, credible and up-to-the minute news coverage that Zee News offers. We are happy to partner with One 97 and are confident that this partnership will help us reach our audiences anywhere, anytime,” said Barun Das, CEO, Zee News Limited.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Managing Director, One97 Communication said “We are excited to partner with Zee News Ltd. Our service offering has endless potential and will further strengthen Zee News connect with viewers more personally. It is extremely flexible and has been tried and tested to deliver services across all modes of services (SMS, Voice, Video, WAP, USSD).”