According to the data released by Counterpoint, a market research company, in 20 18, the shipment of smartphones in India was about 654.38+452 million units, a year-on-year increase of 10%. Among the top five brands, China brand occupies three seats, namely Xiaomi, vivo and OPPO, ranking first, third and fourth respectively.
Overall, China mobile phone manufacturers accounted for 60% of the Indian smartphone market last year. India has become the second hometown of smart phones in China.
This wave of tide began in 20 14. At that time, the domestic smart phone market developed rapidly and many local brands rose rapidly. However, the competition in the domestic market became increasingly fierce. Xiaomi, OV, Yijia and other brands went to sea one after another, and India became a common destination.
This is not the first time that China mobile phones have become famous in India. As early as four or five years ago, in the functional machine era, GFive, which started in Shenzhen, was once all-powerful in the Indian market, competing with the then industry giants Nokia, Motorola and Samsung.
Zhang Wenxue, the founder of Kivu mobile phone, is the earliest witness of Indian innovation.
Zhang Wenxue, who majored in mold in university, started with mold after graduation, and later started with the shell and restructuring machine in high copy machine. In 2005, he began to contract overseas mobile phone brands, when Ajanta, a famous Indian lighting and watch brand, was his customer. Realizing the huge opportunities in overseas markets, he set up Kivu International Company to produce functional machines and sell them to India and Africa.
India once became the largest market in Kivu, with offices in almost all states. Kivu has more than 300 employees in its headquarters and state offices in Gourgand, and Zhang Wenxue goes to India almost every month.
In 20 10, Kivu sold nearly 60 million units annually, once occupying more than 10% of the regional market share, ranking second only to Samsung. This made Kivu a blockbuster in India, and all major media made headlines: "Who is Gfive?" In an interview with the Economic Times on 20 1 1, Zhang Wenxue even revealed that he planned to set up a research and development center in India.
Recently, this article interviewed Zhang Wenxue, the founder of Kivu International.
I should be the first to do the mobile phone market in India.
In 2005, I was doing mobile phone OEM. At that time, Ajanta, the first local mobile phone brand in India, was our customer. This brand is a very famous lighting brand. It is a very good achievement to sell more than 200,000 to 300,000 mobile phones a month. At that time, except for the head brands Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and LG, few people could ship more than 654.38 million mobile phones every month.
This gave me a certain understanding of the Indian market, and it also became the basis for establishing Kivu International to focus on overseas markets.
In 2008, I established Kivu International and entered the Indian market and several countries in North Africa, which is regarded as an early mobile phone brand in India.
At that time, the main mobile phone brands in India were Nokia and Samsung, and a function machine could be sold for about $200, which most people could not afford.
At that time, the income of ordinary Indian workers was about one month 100 USD. If mobile phones are too expensive, it will be difficult to popularize them. The price we cut into the market is determined according to the user's income. From the beginning, we ran forward by product design, performance and cost performance.
Our ex-factory price was around $50. At that time, India's tariff was very low, only 2.5%, and the retail price of mobile phones was set at $80.
In this way, our price is only about 60% of that of Samsung and Nokia, but the quality and function are similar, which is easy to impress consumers. Many Indians bought Kivu mobile phones for the first time. 20 10 and 20 1 1 year were the best years for our sales, and we could sell about 60 million mobile phones in India a year.
The lower price of mobile phones also benefits from China's industrial chain. First, cooperation with BYD and Foxconn, relying on resource integration to reduce costs. Second, our own profits are not high. Compared with the profit margin of top brands in the Indian market of over 40%, our profit margin is below 20%.
In terms of product innovation, Kivu is faster than international brands such as Samsung and Nokia.
In 2007, I helped overseas brands make dual-card mobile phones, much earlier than Nokia and Samsung. After the establishment of Kivu International, we also launched many unique functions for overseas markets.
In 2008, in a small town in India, I saw local people standing in a long line in front of a car, spending 10 rupees to charge their mobile phones with car batteries for half an hour. After that, we introduced a mobile phone that can use No.5 battery and dual batteries, focusing on "long standby" and can stand by for up to 40 days.
The best mobile phone we sell is the "four cards and four standby" mobile phone. At that time, there were 1 1 operators in India, and the telephone and SMS charges in each operator's network were lower, and the telephone and SMS charges between different operators were three to four times higher. The price of a mobile phone card is only 10 rupees. In order to save money, users will buy mobile phone cards of several different operators at the same time. Our "four cards and four standby" mobile phone will also come in handy.
I think we can open up the Indian market, on the one hand, meet the needs of consumers, on the other hand, it is very cost-effective.
20 10 Kivu ranks second in the mobile phone market share, second only to Samsung. The headquarters of India Kivu International is located in Gourgand, with branches in 27 or 8 Indian states. There are more than 300 employees in the establishment, and I go to India once a month.
After 20 1 1 year, Kivu was forced to withdraw from the Indian market.
At the end of that year, Ericsson and Nokia brought Kivu International to court in India and other markets because of patent problems. The defendants were HTC and ZTE.
As an enterprise that grew up later, the patented technology in GSM 2G field is basically blank. Ericsson and Nokia have rich patent layouts in India, and the overall protection of patents in Indian law is also strict, and we have no patents to exchange with each other, so we are very passive in this patent lawsuit.
From 20 12 to 20 16, my main energy was to go to various places to go to court.
20 13 I sold my equity and quit the mobile phone market. The brand has been licensed to some foreign companies. At present, there are still partners in India who are responsible for production and sales. I introduced China suppliers to them.
After quitting the Indian market, I thought about making smart phones in the domestic market, but I felt that I had genetic problems and finally gave up. I now feel that if there is no patent lawsuit, there is still a great chance to stay in the Indian market because the brands and channels are relatively mature.
Author: Luo Ruiyao Song Chenbing
Zhixiang Com is the witness of the globalization of science and technology enterprises in China.