mobility india
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April 2014TRANSCRIPT
Content
Samsung unveils Galaxy S5 Smartphone
Qualcomm Sale of India BWA License Cleared by Regularor
Simmtronics XPad Partners with STAR CJ
Spice launches 5 inch 3G Android Stellar Mettle Icon
Industry welcomes Kerala Govt.’s New Mobile Tower Policy
ASUS Anounces the Pan India Accessibility of Zenbook
Motorola Launches Moto X in India
Microsoft Seto to Offer Windows Phone free to Lava and Karbonn
Apple might setup Stores across India to Push Sales
Microsoft introduces Windows-based Tablets in India
Nokia Presents ‘Nokia X’ Android Smartphone
Google Set to Unveil Android Watch Soon
Rapoo Wins ‘iF Product Design Award 2014’ for the 4th time
iBall launched Slide 3G 7271-HD70
Karbonn announces Smartphone with Android KitKat
Mobility News 8-11
Cover Story 14
Special Story 19
Channel Focus 12Modi Infosol betting big on Mobility
Mobility Interacton 22Mediaman Target Growing Smartphone Sector for Storage Market
Tech Story 23-25LTE - The True Future for Mobile Broadband
Mobility Personality 26“Intel is partnering with Indian OEMs to launch innovative devices”
Special Report 27Gionee presents Special and Slimmest Smartphone – Elife S5.5
Mobility Interview 29BYOD and BYOS not a “zero-sum” game
Product Feature 30-33
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Mediaman Target Growing Smartphone Sector for Storage Market
Tech Story LTE - The True Future for Mobile Broadband
Mobility Personality “Intel is partnering with Indian OEMs to launch innovative devices”
Special Report Gionee presents Special and Slimmest Smartphone – Elife S5.5
Powering
Mobiles
and
Smart
Devices
Upcountry Goes Mobile Rise of the Small Town India
Today there is a lot of discussion and hype around wearable computing. As wearable computing
moves from science fiction into everyday life and the workplace, the wearable electronics market is set to cater to a multitude of different industry verticals and consumer groups.
From smart glasses to smart watches and wearable fitness and health devices, it seems that consumers and enterprises alike are eager to explore the benefits of wearable computing.
Smart glasses, such as Google Glass, are causing CIOs to take a fresh look at the impact wearable electronics will have on the enterprise and their potential to improve worker efficiency in vertical markets such as manufacturing, field service, retail and healthcare.
Smart glasses with augmented reality (AR) and head-mounted cameras can increase the efficiency of technicians, engineers and other workers in field service, maintenance, healthcare and manufacturing roles. In the next three to five years, the industry that is likely to experience the greatest benefit from smart glasses is field service, potentially increasing profits by
Sony Xperia Tablet ZIt is true that the Xperia Tablet Z is Sony’s attempt at making a comeback in the tablet segment after its previous attempts with Xperia Tablet S and Tablet P. The tablet is based on the company’s recent flagship phone the Xperia Z in terms of design as well as software and is without doubt one of the sleekest devices available in the market. Is it the best tablet that money can buy at this point in time? We try to find out.
At 6.9mm, Xperia Tablet Z is the thinnest tablet around - iPad fourth generation is 9.4mm thick, in case you are wondering. Sony engineers have done a commendable job, packing in all the power into such a sleek device. It weighs 495 grams and for a 10-inch tablet the weight to dimensions ratio of the device makes it easy to carry.
The back is made of plastic and sports a matte finish. The quality of plastics used here is better than what we’ve seen in products from rival brands. But our only gripe with it is that it’s a smudge magnet. You’ll see some silver Xperia branding at the centre and the 8-megapixel rear camera lens at the top right corner, flush with the tablet.
The Sony Xperia Tablet Z features an 8-megapixel rear shooter. The camera app is feature rich, having Superior auto, Normal, Video, Burst, Picture Effects, Sweep Panorama and different Scene selection modes.
The Sony Xperia Tablet Z is powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor with 2GB RAM, and an Adreno 320 chip for processing graphics. There is 16GB of internal storage, which is expandable by another 32GB via a microSD card.
At a price of `46,990 the Sony Xperia Tablet Z is an expensive offering from the Japanese electronics giant. The tablet packs in a large number of features, a unique design and high-end specifications, but recommending it over the latest generation iPad (3G+WiFi) that costs a similar amount, is a bit difficult.
Editor’SChoiCE
Editor : Swapan RoyChief Editor : Manoj JhaAsst. Editor : E.J. Jawahardatham
Design DeskArt Director : Anit Kumar
Acct. & FinanceFinance : Sandip Sarkar
Marketing & SalesMarketing Manager : Tridip DeyMarketing Executives : Sujit Goswami Pratap Biswas S. Dutt Raj KumarCirculation Manager : P. BiswasProduction : Ashish Ghosh Ashok PaulSystem Manager : Ajay Biswas
H.O.: Delhi / Editorial OfficeRoy Mediative A-23, 1st Floor, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-I, New Delhi-110020 (INDIA) Mob: 09810380882, 09811346846Ph: 91-11-41602841, 65683896, 40536384-87
Redg.Off.: 38-B / 56 Block, C. R. Park, New Delhi-110019 (India).
Editorial Front
Branch Office:Mumbai: E-mail: roy@ mobilityindia.comKolkata: 105/12B, Dum Dum Road, Sil Colony, Kolkata-74Contact: 09330922965; 09903392620E-mail : roy@ mobilityindia.comOrissa: Krushna Nagar, 5th Lane, Lalji Palli, Berhampur-760008 (Orissa) (India)Contact : Raj Kumar-09338410809 Email : [email protected] [email protected]
Mobility monthly News Paper, Printed, Published & Owned by Swapan Roy at
38-B / 56 Block, C. R. Park, New Delhi-110019 (India).
Printed at Pushpak Printer, C-96, Okhla Industrial Area-I, New Delhi-20. Retail selling price
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Editor : [email protected] roy@ mobilityindia.com Marketing : [email protected] [email protected] Info : [email protected] : subscription@ mobilityindia.com
Web : www.mobilityindia.com
Mobility Voice
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$1 billion annually.The greatest savings in field service will come from
diagnosing and fixing problems more quickly, without needing to bring additional experts to remote sites.
However, during the next five years, the ecosystems will evolve to include more apps that do specific tasks with smart glasses, which may cause IT organizations to provide them for a wider range of employees.
Now is the time for IT organizations to refresh their bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies with smart glasses in mind. Though IT organizations will provide smart glasses to employees who regularly wear them for their job task, much of the IT impact may come from employees wearing their personal smart glasses at work. This is surely a big space to watch out now.
Swapan Roy
Welcome to the World of Wearables
Welcome to the World of Wearables
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Mobility April 2014
Mobility NewsSamsung Unveils Galaxy S5 Smartphone
The company’s 5th generation Galaxy S redefines how technology innovation enhances our lives. Expands Wearable Line with the
Next Generation of Gear devices that offers unmatched freedom and style Samsung Electronics, India’s leading smartphone manufacturer, has introduced the Galaxy S5, blending features that matter most to consumers. The new Galaxy S5 offers consumers a refined experience with innovation of essential features for day-to-day use. “The Galaxy S5 is yet another great proof point of people-inspired innovation. Designed to be both effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, the Galaxy S5 has been created to maximize consumer benefits by integrating superior hardware with enhanced smartphone usability and an iconic design,” said Vineet Taneja, Country Head, IT & Mobile Division at Samsung India. “This sleek and innovative smartphone believes in the importance of an effortless user experience, making your life easy and hassle-free; and, it empowers your life, helping take care of your well-being. At Samsung, we’ll never stop pursuing innovation conceived by people, so we can inspire them in return.”
The Galaxy S5 combines an advanced camera, the fast network connectivity, dedicated fitness tools and enhanced device protection features as consumers stay fit and connected in style.
Be more fit and active
With the enhanced S Health 3.0, the new Galaxy S5 offers more tools to help people stay fit and well. It provides a comprehensive personal fitness tracker to help users monitor and manage their behavior, along with additional tools including a pedometer, diet and exercise records, and a new, built-in heart rate sensor. Galaxy S5 users can further customize their
experience with an enriched third party app ecosystem and the ability to pair with next generation Gear products for real-time fitness coaching.
Essential device protection
The Galaxy S5 is IP67 dust and water resistant. It also offers a Finger Scanner, providing a secure, biometric screen locking feature. The Ultra Power Saving Mode turns the display to black and white, and shuts down all unnecessary features to minimize the battery consumption.
All three devices - Gear Fit, Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo allows users to express their mood or coordinate with their outfit with modern and sophisticated strap color options including Charcoal Black, Gold Brown and Wild Orange for Gear 2 and Charcoal Black, Mocha Grey and Wild Orange for Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit. The home screen background, clock face and font are also customizable to reflect their personal taste. The devices also offer personal fitness coaching in real time, allowing users to develop a customizable fitness routine and monitor their heart rate in order to improve their overall well-being.
“Samsung next generation of wearable devices were developed to redefine the way
we live and to maximize our fulfilment of life,” said Mr. Taneja. “Our Gear portfolio continues to expand with unique devices designed for extended connectivity features, stylish customization options and a robust application ecosystem. These devices, especially the new Gear Fit, help consumers striving to live fit and active lives, without sacrificing their own personal style or their ability, to stay connected on the go. These devices enable one of the most seamless, natural and human-centric mobile experiences; opening up new horizons that allows you to live a life extraordinary.”
Qualcomm Sale of Indian BWA Licenses Cleared by Regulator
Simmtronics XPad Partners with STAR CJ
Qualcomm has received approval to sell its remaining stake in it’s Indian BWA spectrum holding company to Bharti Airtel. Qualcomm
paid just over US$1 billion for the licenses in the auctions of 2010. Qualcomm sold a 49% stake in the holding company to Bharti Airtel for around US$165 million in May 2012. Since then it has steadily increased its holdings, and has a long term plan to take full ownership of the company. Last October it raised its stake to 93.45 percent, and now has full ownership of the holding company.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has now approved the deal after the law ministry said the sale didn’t violate the 2010 auction rules. There had been some doubt about whether the sale could include the associated ISP license as well as the spectrum.
Qualcomm’s licenses cover Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala, while Bharti has BWA licenses in four circles - Kolkata, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra - and 3G licenses in thirteen circles in India. With this agreement, Bharti has secured a near nation-wide broadband capability in 18 circles.
Simmtronics announces its association with STAR CJ Network India Pvt. Ltd. Simmtronics has forayed into the smartphone segment, with series
like FUNDROID, AMAZOID and SMARTROID and will offer these products (and demos) to the consumers through STAR CJ Home Shopping Television Channel.
Anjana Sukhani, Indian Film Actor and Model says, “I remember using Simmtronics products in my computer when I was a kid. The qualities of the Simmtronics tablets are authentic and are very handy to use.”
Mr. Kenny Shin, CEO, STAR CJ Network India Pvt. Says, “We are pleased to associate with Simmtronics, a rapidly rising brand in the IT sector.”
Mr. Amoogh Sabharwal, Director, Simmtronics says, “We are overwhelmed by our association with STAR CJ Network, which as empowered us to provide extensive reach and value to our patrons.”
www.mobilityindia.com 9Mobility April 2014
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Mobility NewsSpice launches 5 inch 3G Android Stellar Mettle Icon
Industry welcomes Kerala Government’s New Mobile Tower Policy
Spice Retail Limited has launched Spice Stellar Mettle Icon Mi- 506 smartphone at an affordable range. The phone has been priced at
Rs 6,999 and will be available across India through all major retail stores and www.saholic.com.
The device has 1.3 GHz Dual Core Processor, 5 inch FWVGA capacitive touchscreen at 854 x 480 pixels resolution. This Android 4.2 smartphone offers an 8 mega-pixel rear camera with LED flash and a front-facing 1.3 MP camera. The 1800mAh battery gives a talk-time of more than 11 hours (2G) and 5 and a half hours (3G) hours and up to 227 hours standby ensuring a strong battery backup.
Stellar Mettle Icon comes in a sleek, stylish and sturdy metal body, has an inbuilt memory of 4 GB ROM + 512 MB RAM which can further be expanded upto 32 GB with a microSD card.
ASUS Announces the Pan India Accessibility of Zenbook
Motorola Launches Moto X in India
The ASUS Zenbook UX302 is a stunning, stylish touchscreen Ultrabook with a scratch-resistant finish ASUS, a leading brand, driven by the
strength of mastering technological innovation and design perfection for the ultimate life-enhancing and computing experience announces Pan India accessibility of their stunning, stylish touchscreen Ultrabook with a scratch- resistant finish - Zenbook UX302. Zenbook UX302 has
a strikingly gorgeous design refined with crystalline Gorilla Glass 3 and classic brushed metallic finish.
Mr. Peter Chang, Regional Head - South Asia & Country Manager, ASUS India said, “We were
the pioneers of bringing Ultrabooks in the market. Our first model was introduced in
2011. Introducing the Zenbook UX302 is one of our elite ranges of products, will be further enhancing our Ultrabook Series and quality offerings to our customers. Amazingly, it is just 15.5mm thick - 14% thinner than the previous Zenbook. It is a first ever Ultrabook which comes with NVidia GT 730M 2GB VRAM accelerating the performance with responsive multimedia and faster gaming. We are affirmative that this device will content techies with fetish for excellence in the country. It is the Ultrabook you’ll want with you, wherever you go.?
Motorola is set to in India Moto X, priced `23,999 onwards, in partnership with e-Commerce company Flipkart.com.”After the huge
success of Moto G, Flipkart.com and Motorola are now launching the Moto X in India. At `23,999 for the colour variants and `25,999 for the wood finish variants, t h e M o t o X i s p r i c e d aggressively, m a t c h i n g prices in the U S m a r k e t ,” Flipkart said in a statement.
The device i s a v a i l a b l e in the US for U S D 3 9 9 . 9 9 ( ` 2 4 , 3 9 2 ) w i t h o u t contract for the 16GB version and USD 449.99 for 32GB (`27,465).The Moto X features a 4.7-inch touchscreen, Android KitKat OS, dual core 1.7 GHz processor, supports 4G LTE, 10 MP rear camera, 2 MP front camera and has 2GB RAM. Previously, Motorola had partnered with Flipkart to launch its affordable smartphone, Moto G.
It added that this would be a phased launch and once sold out, the next lot of Moto X will be available on Flipkart .
The Indian Telecom industry has welcomed the Kerala Government’s decision to accept the Central guidelines for clearance for installation
of mobile towers in the State and said that the other State Governments can take a leaf out of the Kerala Government’s initiative of adopting the Central guidelines in totality.
Rajan S Mathews, Director General, COAI said: “The move by the Kerala Government is a step in the right d i r e c t i o n f o r t h e development of ICT sector. India has adopted stringent safety norms for emissions from Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) which is one-tenth of the international s t a n d a r d s . F u r t h e r , the Central norms of tower guidelines were formulated after elaborate discussions with all stake holders including, the State governments, Department of Telecommunications and the industry and we find no reason why they should be subjected to further scrutiny and change,” he added.
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Mobility April 2014
If you like to use your tablet for work and play - in office, on-the-go or at home,
you now can choose from 20 different Windows-based tablets in India which are on offer from eight of Microsoft?s original equipment manufacturing partners. Eight of these tablets from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Panasonic and Lava .
Windows tablets offer consumers the power of a PC in a tablet. They are also the only tablets which allow multiple user accounts, so you don?t have to worry about your child wiping off your office email. Windows-based tablets allow multi-
tasking, so you can listen to music, do social networking and download a presentation all at the same time. They come pre-installed with Microsoft Windows Home and Office 2013 and best of all, all Windows tablets are equipped with all-purpose ports that can connect to the TV via HDMI, the Internet via a dongle or a keyboard/printer/
mouse/headphone via a USB port.
Since its introduction in mid-2010, the tablet category has witnessed huge growth in demand and shipments. Currently the hand-held segment leads with an impressive annual growth of 629% *. Consumer usage patterns around technology are
constantly evolving and what people are doing with technology today is vastly different from what we have seen a few short years ago. Given the ease with which tablets enable convergence, the popularity of this device comes as no surprise.
Mobility NewsMicrosoft Set to offer Windows Phone free to Lava and Karbonn
Apple Might set up Stores Across India to Push Sales
Microsoft introduces Windows-based Tablets in India
According to media reports, Karbonn and Lava are the two phone makers in India who will be spared the usual
licensing fee for adopting Windows Phone. And Microsoft reportedly will dole out Windows Phone for free to these couple of Indian phone makers to spur adoption in the country.
The software giant has been chatting with Indian phone makers about developing more affordable Windows Phone devices. Two device makers purportedly agreed, but only after Microsoft promised to drop the normal license fee for its mobile OS, according to the sources.
Microsoft is surely changing its game here as the company typically earns its bread-and-butter by charging a licensing fee for each Windows Phone handset. Microsoft even charges key partner Nokia to make Windows Phone devices.
Apple is set on big plans to make a big entry into Indian cities and tier II markets. The company was looking to set
up a chain of outlets that will sell Apple products in regions where the company has limited retail presence currently.
Now Apple is set to be going for an India-specific strategy aimed at trying to grab market share from dominant rival Samsung. The stores will reportedly be set up in cities and towns such as Pune, Vishakhapatnam, Guwahati, Durgapur and Gangtok.
Apple is expected to set up independent stores in neighbourhoods across the country with help from Indian distributors Redington and Ingram Micro, and other distribution partners. The move comes on the back of Apple’s decision to bring back the
iPhone 4 to India, which is one of the key growth markets in the world. With a miniscule market share in India (around 2 percent), Apple is a not a force to be reckoned with yet in the Indian smartphone market.
It would seem Apple approached multi-brand outlets as well to set up Apple-specific stores, but not all of them agreed. An executive at a retail chain told the paper that margins on Apple products is quite less compared to Samsung or other brands, hence it makes more sense to stick to the multi-brand format.
Mobile Phone Batteries can be Charged with Sugar?
H ave you heard of a battery that consumes sugar and can run your smart phone for 10
days? This bio-battery may soon become a reality. Researchers at US based Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech, have designed a new bio-battery with a greater output per weight than the typical
lithium-ion batteries used in most electronics.
A bio-battery converts sugar into energy - much like our metabolism - decomposing sugar into carbon dioxide and water while releasing electrons.The new bio-battery fully converts sugar into energy, which means more power
output than previous bio-batteries and a greater battery charge than common lithium-ion batteries.
The new bio-battery gets its efficiency by using a novel system of enzymes which are proteins that help the reaction to take place. The system uses two active
e n z y m e s that liberate two pairs of e l e c t r o n s f r o m t h e sugar while 1 0 o t h e r e n z y m e s help to reset the reaction i n s i d e t h e bio-battery.
Once the reaction is reset, the active enzymes release another quartet of electrons. After six cycles, the bio-battery extracts all of the energy bound in the sugar molecule along with carbon dioxide and water.
www.mobilityindia.com 11Mobility April 2014
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Nokia Presents ‘Nokia X’ Android Smartphone
Nokia has announced the launch of its newest phone ‘Nokia X’ Android smartphone which will be available in Indian market. As the Finnish firm
plans to grab a good share of the burgeoning affordable smartphone market. The smartphone priced at Rs 8599 MOP, is a four inch touchscreen dual SIM
handset loaded with Android’s Jellybean OS a dual core 1 GHz processor, 3MP rear camera and 512 MB of RAM a n d m e m o r y expandable up to 32GB.
The phone come pre-loaded
with apps like Maps, Mixradio, Facebook and Twitter.As per the Nokia website, Nokia X also introduces to an all-new customizable home screen in which one can customize as per requirement. Resize and rearrange apps with resizable tiles, group apps into folders and get Android widgets for the things that a user may require frequently. “India is one of the fastest growing markets for smart phones in the world. With the launch of Nokia X, we are adding more ammunition to our smartphone portfolio.
“We believe Nokia X is a unique combination of Nokia quality and experiences, Microsoft services and Android apps. It will resonate with consumers and set a great precedent for the level of quality that can be achieved in the fast-growing, affordable smartphone segment.” Said Mr. P Balaji, Managing Director, Nokia India. Nokia X comes with Fastlane, a screen which lets people switch between their favorite apps more smoothly. People can access curated, quality-tested apps from Nokia Store, more than a dozen third-party app stores and by side loading.
Mobility News
Google Set to Unveil Android Watch Soon
RAPOO Wins ‘iF Product Design Award 2014’ for the 4th Time
RAPOO has bagged ‘iF Product Design Award 2014’ award for RAPOO A600 Bluetooth portable NFC speakers. RAPOO has won the ‘iF Product Design’ award for the 4th time in a row. RAPOO has been successful in qualifying for this award category due to its professional cutting-edge wireless peripheral designs.
‘Industrie Forum Design (iF)’ award is a German based renowned International design association - reputed provider of design services at the interface of design and economy. iF Product Design Award has been dubbed “Oscars of Design World” by European media. Mr Sunil Srivastava, Country Marketing Manager at RAPOO said, “It is an honor to be acknowledged by iF international design award for the 4th time.”
iBall launched Slide 3G 7271-HD70
iBall has launched another Dual SIM tablet Slide 3G 7271-HD70, which offers 3G network support in one of the SIM slots and also supports video calling. It has a 7-inch (1024 x 600 pixels) capacitive touch screen display, powered by a 1.3 GHz dual-core Cortex A7 processor and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean), similar to the HD7 tablet. It comes with a 2-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a VGA front-facing camera. It has dual SIM support, voice calling and wireless FM Radio. This dual-SIM configuration supporting tablet is powered with a 3000 mAh battery. Major difference of this tablet from its predecessor is 1GB RAM and 8 GB of internal memory, instead of 512MB RAM and 4GB of internal memory in the Slide 3G 7271-HD7. The iBall Slide 3G 7271 HD70 comes in silver color and is priced at an MOP of Rs. 8,299, while the MRP is Rs. 8,999.
Karbonn announces Smartphone with Android KitKat
Karbonn and MediaTek have announced a strategic partnership in smartphone business. This major partnership integrates MediaTek’s innovative product engineering roadmap into Karbonn’s new portfolio of ‘true’ octa-core &hexa-core processor based smartphone range. Priced at Rs. 16990/-(MOP) for the Karbonn Titanium Hexa, Rs. 14490/-(MOP) for the Titanium Octane and Rs. 17990/-(MOP) for the Titanium Octane Plus, the devices will be ready for shipping from the last week of April 2014.
Through this collaboration, Karbonn has introduced a new portfolio of smartphones including Titanium Hexa, Titanium Octane and Titanium Octane Plus. Speaking about the partnership, Pardeep Jain, Managing Director, Karbonn says, “This collaboration with M e d i aTe k w h i c h enables advanced multi-tasking and better performance is our endeavour to introduce devices which can answer every emerging need in the industry.”
Dr. Finbarr Moynihan, General Manager, International Sales & Marketing, Mediatek Inc. says, “True to MediaTek’s DNA, we have set another benchmark in technological innovations by developing the MT6591, the Hexa-core platform that now completes the loop of multi-core processor offerings by MediaTek.”
V oice-controlled smartwatches that track heart rates and connect
to phones and tablets will debut later this year as Google Inc partners with electronics, technology and fashion companies to take consumers to the next promised frontier in computing.
Google has unveiled plans to help develop the watches and other wearable computers based on its Android mobile operating system, which already runs more than three out of four smartphones sold worldwide.The Android Wear project is open to software makers to create apps for the watches, putting Google at the forefront of efforts to jumpstart the nascent wearable computing market.
The news comes as speculation swirls around iPhone-maker Apple Inc’s plans for wearable computers, including a smartwatch of its own. Apple Chief Executive Tim
Cook has promised new “product categories” later this year.A video posted on Google’s blog on Tuesday showed people speaking into their watches to check sports scores, control music, send replies to text messages and even open their home garages.
By aligning itself with a broad spectrum of partners to develop the smartwatches, Google is hoping to replicate the success that helped make its free Android software the most popular smartphone operating system, analysts said. Juniper Research expects more than 130 million smart wearable devices will ship by 2018. Moreover, global shipments of wearable “smart glasses” alone will reach 10 million each year by 2018, compared with an estimated 87,000 in 2013, according to the research firm.
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Modi Infosol Betting Big on Mobility
Modi Infosol Pvt Ltd. (formerly Modi
Peripherals Pvt Ltd), founded in 1987,
is a customer-oriented IT products and solutions
distribution company providing a range of products
and expert services. Modi Group have their Head
Office in Nehru Place, New Delhi, Registered Office
in Mumbai and Branch Offices in Madhya Pradesh,
Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and
Punjab and the recently opened branch office in
Bangalore. Currently they have a turnover of over
Rs 200 crores (Rs 2000 Million).
Modi Group is an established distributor of
software, PCs, laptops, smartphones & tablets,
servers, printers, multi-function machines/
photocopiers, video projection systems, storage
and networking products to develop customized
IT solutions. Modi Infosol also undertakes
maintenance of servers PCs & peripherals and other
IT-related hardware on an Annual Maintenance
Contract (AMC) basis.
The vendors or providers for mobile devices
with whom Modi is associated include several top
notch companies like HP, Lenovo, Acer, Samsung,
Simmtronics and ASUS, among others.
According to Shyam Sunder Modi, Director,
Modi Infosol, “We are expanding our pan-India
network. In this regard, we are in the process of
setting up more offices in all major cities. So far our
presence has been strong in North and West India,
but now we are expanding to South and East India.
Recently we opened our branch office in Bangalore
and plan to open one in the East soon.”
Regarding mobile gadgets market, Modi
says, “In spite of downturn in the market, our
smartphone and tablet business has grown by over
100%,which forms roughly 30% of our revenues,
though for other IT products the growth remains
low at around 10%.”
Modi Launched their Own Brand iJab for Mobile Accessories.
Modi group has recently launched their own
brand iJab for mobile accessories. Speaking in this
regard, Modi reveals, “We launched iJab only 2
months back starting with laptop battery, laptop
adaptor and laptop bag, but soon we will expand to
accessories for smartphones and tablets. Have our
own strong and established distribution network
is special advantage for promoting our own brand
and soon we will establish iJab as strong brand in
the market.”
Marketing Strategy
Every company has its own marketing strategy.
As a distributor Modi details, “We promote via TV
shows, roadshows, retailing and our own online
portal. However, online sales volume is nominal. We
have a workforce of over 100 staff which we want to
gradually increase. We are mainly present in North
India and West India. In South India we recently
opened office Bangalore, and also we want to open
an office in East India in the coming months. Our
main sales bases are big cities, but gradually we want
to expand to Tier-2 and 3 cities—it will take time.
We work closely with our downline partners. As
far as partners are concerned, some of our partners
for mobile devices sell exclusively mobile devices
whereas some are common for mobile devices and
other IT products.”
Future Plans
Regarding future plans, Modi states, “As already
mentioned, we are expanding our pan India
network. We are waiting for the new government
after 2014 general elections. Depending upon
the new government’s policies and budget,
we will redraft our strategy. We want a stabile
government, preferably headed by Narendra Modi
who can propel the development of IT industry
and the market as well. We want to increase our
revenues from the present Rs 200 crores to Rs 500
crores in the next 3 to 4 years. For mobility segment
in particulars we are entering into new tie-ups and
signing up with new partners. We want to establish
our newly started mobile accessory brand iJab.”
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Channel Focus
Company is planning
aggressive expansion into
Smarphones & Tablets
Segments. They have also
launched their Own Mobile
Accessory Brand iJab
Shyam Sunder Modi, Director, Modi Infosol
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The number of electronics
applications that have become
portable in the last 20 years has
risen dramatically with the evolution
of battery technologies.
The portable power battery
market has grown significantly during
this same timeframe across a variety of
consumer and industrial application
areas. While this sector was initially
constrained by supply-side limitations,
the market has matured and is showing
steady growth.
A report from Pike Research
forecasts that the portable power sector
will continue expanding at a healthy
rate over the next few years, rising
from $25.3 billion in global revenues
in 2012 to $30.5 billion by 2015.
TEJAS SETHDirector, Asia Powercom
The cleantech market intelligence
firm estimates that portable power
represents 55% of the global battery
industry, with the stationary and
motive battery sectors accounting
for the balance of the market. The
firm’s analysis indicates that portable
power’s compound annual growth
rate (CAGR) of 8.5% will outpace
growth in the other two sectors.
Advanced battery technologies
hold the potential to have a major
impact on how portable devices are
used in a variety of consumer and
industrial markets. However, batteries
are governed and constrained by
a set of electrochemical laws that
prevent them from achieving the
kinds of advancements we have
seen in the electronics industry.
There is no Moore’s Law for battery
technology, but a large number of
innovators are actively seeking ways to
significantly improve the performance
of batteries.
Pike Research forecasts that the
largest market growth will continue
to be in batteries for laptop computers
and mobile phones, driven largely by
ongoing increases in unit shipments.
Other major growth categories will
include portable navigation, military
applications, medical devices, power
tools, and instrumentation/sensing.
A few application segments, such as
batteries for portable AV/music and
digital photography, will experience
flat to negative growth between 2010
and 2015.
Power Bank Strategy in India
According to Rajesh Doshi,
Director - Purchase & Marketing,
Topnotch Infortronix India, the
company always looking forward to
engaging with its set of customers in
interesting ways and power bank is
surely an emerging segment.
“We always strive hard to offer
the consumers quality products at
reasonable price. We have a range
of power banks in Zebronics called
Power Grid. Our products in this
range are very competitively priced
and come with one year warranty,
so one can buy and use them with
peace of mind. Mobiles and tablets are
very fast growing market segments.
As these mobile devices gets more
processing power and better displays,
the battery requirement also goes
up. There is lots of scope for power
banks, in this segment. We are very
confident of capturing a good portion
of this market with good quality VFM
products,” he adds on.
According to Sudip De, Vice
President, ADATA Technology India,
“ADATA India’ main product line
being storage, recently we forayed into
mobile power segment with 2 new
products. One a mobile power bank
ADATA PV100 and second a wireless
charger for mobile phone supporting
wireless charging model CE700. With
these 2 news products, we are going
full throttle with our distribution
network in creating awareness on
the products, its USPs, technological
benefits over the competitive products
to the front ending sales team and
channel partners alike. Apart from our
distribution setup, we are also working
very closely with a chosen set of
partners have specialization in mobile
segment to create awareness amongst
the mobile channel partners. On the
other front, we are also working along
with leading ecommerce portals to
create awareness amongst the end
users directly,” he informs.
As per the v iews of Rajan Sharma, VP Sales – DIGILITE, “We have recently launched DIGILITE powerbank series with 3 models with 5200mAH & 6600mAH power. Our products come with Samsung battery, LED charging indicators, LED torch, overcharge short circuit protection & over Discharge Protection. We are looking customers who are quality conscious & need higher batter back-up,” he adds on.
He is quick to add that as more
and more people carry portable
electronic devices like - laptops,
phones, smartphones, tablet PC,
digital cameras, camcorders etc to
enjoy the benefit technology brings
us the power bank requirements
are shooting up. “We expect market
size to be almost equal to atleast
50% of current MID,Smartphone
market. We are working closely
with our IT & TELECOM channel
across India through our distribution
partners Ingram Micro, Redington
& Supertron Electronics. With their
reach & consistent business in IT as
well as Telecom channel in selling
MID products from SAMSUNG,
APPLE,DIGITAB etc, we have opened
up excellent opportunity of customers
& users to experience our DIGILITE
Powerbanks,” he explains.
According to Sundeep Popli, COO
at LAPCARE, the company started
power banks about six months ago
and it will be its prime focus product
for the coming future.
“We have introduced complete
range starting from 2200 mAh to
15600 mAh. Currently we have been
selling power banks through our
channel partners across the country
but going forward our strategy for
power bank is to maximize our
presence in Multi brand outlets and
Mobile segment. Our key strategy
would be to leverage our strength of
Lapcare brand is the battery &
adaptor segment. As Smartphones
and mobile devices are gaining more
popularity in India, there is also
increased demand for the mobile
accessories. According to industry
estimates, the size of the market for
mobile accessories is about 1,500
crore. Mobile power banks are making
their way into the ‘a must have’ among
the most popular accessories like
“As the market is increasing and in demand, it is very diffi cult to judge how big the market will be. But we think there is more than 50% connect ratio for all small phones being sold. The competition is from all angles. It varies from branded ones to unbranded Chi-nese powerbanks but in general it depends mainly on what segment one operates,”
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Powering Mobiles and Smart Devices
“We always strive hard to offer the consumers quality products at rea-sonable price. We have a range of power banks in Ze-bronics called Pow-er Grid. Our prod-ucts in this range are very competi-tively priced and come with one year warranty, so one can buy and use them with peace of mind. Mobiles and tablets are very fast growing mar-ket segments.”
RAJESH DOSHIDirector - Purchase & Marketing, Topnotch Infortronix India
16 www.mobilityindia.com
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Mobility April 2014
Cover Story
LAVA 520 5200mAh Power Bank-cum-Wireless Router is an attractive buy for charging smartphones and tablets (via a USB por t) and connecting to Internet, while on the go. It creates a Wi-Fi hotspot from your 3G dongles or Ethernet connection, and supports up to 32 users access to Internet. W520 has a massive inner battery of 5200mAh, which allows up to 8
hours of continuous use and up to 10 hours of standby time. The W520 has two access modes: 3G wireless access (via WCDMA, EVDO and TD-WCDMA) and cable access (via WAN or LAN por ts). This wireless router-cum-power bank has a a maximum bandwidth of up to 150 Mbps. The maximum transmission distance of this device is 50 meters outdoors and 30 meters indoors. Charging this Lava power bank is facilitated by the availability of multiple charging options like via a PC or laptop USB por t, power adapter and mobile charger. W520 comes with an MRP Rs 2999 and MOP approx Rs 1950. Lava W520’s Rj45 por t is covered which protects it from dust, water, par ticles, etc.
LAVA W880 mini por table power bank is potential accessory for Smar tphones and tablets for peace of mind during long outings. LAVA W880 has a massive 8800mAh battery, enough for three full charges of most smar t phones and one full charge for most tablet devices. Battery Charging time is 6-8 hrs. LAVA W880 comes with an MRP Rs 2999 and MOP approx Rs 2500.
protective cases and covers. We will continue seeing
mobile Powerbanks to dominate for few more years
in the market,” he adds.
According to Tejas Seth, Director at Asia
Powercom, the company has tie-ups with the
LFRs, mobile distributors, retail stores to increase
its presence in the retail chain that target the
powerbank segments.
“As the market is growing, it is very difficult to
judge how big the market will be. But we think there
is more than 50% connect ratio for all small phones
being sold. The competition is from all angles. It
varies from branded ones to unbranded Chinese
powerbanks but in general it depends mainly on
what segment one operates,” he adds on.
As per Arun Ghosh, Managing Director,
CyberPower “Today the main expectations of the
consumers, who are more aware of
technology and other aspects than
ever before, are looking for features
such as quality, reliability, green
performance, etc. when making
products-related decisions. Mobile
Power Bank is the ideal design
for charging and powering USB-
powered devices ANYWHERE
and ANYTIME, including cell
phones, MP3/IPODs, PDAs,
handheld gaming systems and
cameras. We serve all Geographical
and demographical segmented
buyers who have common needs
or characteristics of buying Power
Bank Products. Our strategy is to
create awareness through regular
BTL activities, Schemes, Print
Media, Social Media, Events etc.
Young generations and working
class are fond of electronic products and thus
growth of sales is high in these market segments,”
he adds.
Competitive Scenario
Speaking about the competition in India,
Rajesh Doshi says that the market is evolving at a
very fast pace and so, the technology. “There are
many branded and non branded products available
in this segment, where the competition among
these is also high. We have a team of engineers,
working on power banks to provide best products
by adding new features and making them tiny and
lighter. Zebronics Power Grid range of products
is unique in design and steady in build quality.
Power Grid products are also well appreciated by
the media and critics and we have got many good
reviews on it,” he adds on.
As being put forward by Sudip De, since the
market is wide open and un-fragmented, there are
many players foraying into the market. “Also with
the segment being new, there are many regional
brands and players who are also present. As of
now, this is a wide open market and many non-IT
players are also jumping into bandwagon as not
much technical know-how and expertise is required
from the players,” he explains.
Speaking about the competitive landscape,
Rajan Sharma says that this market is currently
driven by sub-standard imports, which needs to
be checked. “We are one of the few established
companies to bring DIGILITE powerbank with
proper specifications, IQC & post sales network,”
he adds.
LAVA 520 (5200mAh) & LAVA W880 (8800mAh) Power Banks, The Right Companions for Your Smartphones and Tablets
“ADATA India’ main product line being storage, recently we forayed in mobile power segment with 2 new products. One a mobile power bank as ADATA PV100 and secondly a wireless charger for mobile phone supporting wireless charging with a model as CE700. With these 2 news products, we are going full throttle with our distribution network in creating awareness on the products, its USPs, technological benefits over the competitive products to the front ending sales team and channel partners alike. Apart from our distribution setup, we are also working very closely
with a chosen set of partners that have specialization in mobile segment to create awareness amongst the mobile channel partners.”
SUDIP DEVice President, ADATA Technology India
www.mobilityindia.com 17Mobility April 2014
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Mobile phones are no longer just for talking as they now serve as users’ personal assistants and enter tainment centers.
This trend has largely altered the landscape of the global mobile phone market. As for smar tphones, Apple, Samsung, and HTC are the three giants in the industry, and the competition between them has been heating up over the recent years. Cellular battery, as the main electricity source of mobile phone, is redefined by the rise of smar tphones. In order to cater to smar tphones’ slim sizes, smar tphones’ batteries are built-in, which in turn emphasizes the impor tance of supplementary power.
Smartphone Market Ruled by Two GiantsIn terms of the total shipments, Samsung’s self-supply of the
key components allows it to replace Nokia as the number one in the industry. Samsung started to develop entry-level cell phones as early as 2000 and officially became number one in North-American sales in 2008. Due to the climbing demand, Samsung has been increasing the smar tphone por tion in its production.
As of 2011, Samsung’s self-owned smar tphones accounted for 45% of the total production, and it will fur ther go up to 65% in 2013. Unlike HTC and Apple’s sole dedication to smar tphone, Samsung stably increases its share in the traditional cell phone market. Thus, the users of Samsung’s traditional cell phones may later switch to using Samsung’s smar tphones.
Apple and HTC targets the smar tphone market from the get-go, so their strategy is to acquire high-end users first and then low-end users. Continuous improvement and innovations is the key to remaining the top-dog in the high-end market. Apple’s business sees stable growth due to its continuous innovations. On the other hand, HTC still pales in comparison with Apple. HTC’s target market overlaps with that of Apple, and on top of that, Samsung has carved up a chunk of the smar tphone market. As a result, HTC is facing a fierce challenge in the mid and high-end smar tphone market.
Smartphone Propels Built-In Battery GrowthIn the past, cell phones usually used standard batteries
(replaceable batteries) in order to cut costs. However, due to smar tphones’ requirements for product designs and slim sizes, a fair amount of smar tphones use built-in batteries.
All Apple products use built-in batteries as Apple emphasizes on the product design and portability. All Apple products’ batteries and packaging are tailor-made in order to optimize the products. As for Samsung’s smartphones, some use standard batteries and some polymer batteries. Samsung’s 4-inch and 5-inch products use standard batteries in order to have better battery lives. HTC’s strategy is similar to that of Samsung, but the portion of built-in batteries starts to rise since 2012, expected to reach above 30% by the year end (15% in 2011).
Affected by Smartphone’s booming popularity, many components have undergone certain drastic changes. For example, battery is crucial to smartphone due to its high electricity consumption, and therefore, battery life becomes a pressing issue. That and the demand for trendy design make built-in battery more and more popular.
The biggest advantage of built-in batteries is that it is compatible with the slim and trendy product design. Most high-end smartphones use polymer batteries, which are difficult for users to replace. Most smartphones with built-in batteries can be recharged through USB port or wireless charger; the former is the most common solution for most products. Power bank is another solution that supplies the products with electricity through electric socket. Wireless charger is still a relatively new solution and is currently only for high-end users.
Although there are several solutions, they can basically be categorized into two kinds: power recharge and supplementary power. The edges of power recharge solution are low cost and high applicability, which makes it the mainstream solution for the time being. As for supplementary powers, although backup battery is the more popular choice now, it has its weak points. Backup power might make a better choice under cer tain circumstances.
Global Cellular Battery Trends
“ W e h a v e i n t r o d u c e d complete range s t a r t i n g f r om 2200 mAh t o 1 5 6 0 0 m A h . Currently we have been selling power banks through our channel partners across the country but going forward our strategy for power bank is to maximize our presence in Multi brand outlets and Mobile segment. Our key strategy would be to leverage our strength of Lapcare brand in the battery & adaptor segment.
Tejas Seth says that Asia Powercom
has three SKU’s for this, AP-2600C the
unique powerbank with LED torch in
it, AP-5200C the high capacity Lithium
rechargeable battery with double USB
port and AP-4000A India`s slimmest
Powerbank.
“Our strategy remains the same as to
gel with the market with new innovations
& feel of the products. Meeting the
demands of the customer by providing
them with the new products, feature
rich, well designed and all at affordable
price. With the introduction of 4G, the
Smartphones and Tablets are the segment
where we can expect the high growths. The
rapid growth in internet, digitalization
and increase in mobile internet users are
some of the trends reshaping the growth
in smartphones as well as powerbanks
sectors,” he adds on.
According to Arun Ghosh, Managing
Director, CyberPower, nearly 60% of
Accessories market is Unorganized
and 40% of the accessories market is
organized. Customers today are much
aware of the products and are willing to
buy the branded products rather than
the cheap local brands with poor quality
products. Competition is adhering to
the product that has innovative features,
quality, price and reach. Major Players in
this segment is Sony, Samsung, etc. which
are considered as our major competitors.
We provide reliable computer battery
backup systems, power management
applications, and series of computer
accessories for desktop, workstation,
and network equipment. We have wide
range of solutions for all kind of Power
Needs that are, Line Interactive UPS,
Online UPS, Emergency Power Systems,
Power Distribution Unit, Solar Inverter /
Chargers, Power Inverter, Mobile Battery
Pack, USB Car Chargers & Inverters,
USB Hubs, Cables, 3G Wi-Fi Dongle etc.
In Portable battery bank categories we
Cover Story
SUNDEEP POPLICOO, LAPCARE India
18 www.mobilityindia.com
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Mobility April 2014
Cover Storyhave launched four products, viz. CPBC2200 /
CPBC4400 / CPBC5200T / CPBC10400. These USB
Battery Pack products are a rechargeable lithium-
ion battery designed for powering mobile devices
including phones, MP3 players, cameras, and
handheld gaming devices while away from other
power sources. CyberPower’s CPBC5200 Series
USB Battery Pack Received World’s First Power
Bank Product Certification from UL. Designed to
be applicable to power bank products worldwide,
the new safety evaluation standard conducted by
UL specifies the requirements intended to reduce
risks of personal injury from fire, electric shock
or other hazards. Therefore, equipment complied
with this standard could be deemed as certified
safe hence the significant recognition for users and
potential customers. CyberPower, the professional
solution provider in power industry, always designs
and manufactures products with care and attention
to fine detail,” he adds on.
Power Bank Products and Solutions
“We don’t consider the low brand competition as customers today are much aware of the products and are willing to buy the branded products rather than the cheap local brands with poor quality products. Competition is adhering to the product that has innovative features, qua l i t y, p r i c e and reach.”
ARUN GHOSHManaging Director, CyberPower
“We have recently launched DIGILITE powerbank series with 3 models with 5200mAH & 6600mAH power. Our products come with Samsung battery, LED charging indicators, LED torch, overcharge short circuit protection & over Discharge Protection. We are looking customers who are quality conscious & need higher batter back-up, We expect market size to be almost equal to atleast 50% of current MID,Smartphone market.”
RAJAN SHARMAVP Sales – DIGILITE
Talking about the various offerings of the
company, Rajesh Doshi from Infortronix says
that, “We have named our power bank products
as Power Grid. We have 3 models currently,
ZEB-PG2400, ZEB-PG4800 and ZEB-PG7200
with 2400mah, 4800mah and 7200mah capacity
respectively. The ZEBPG2400 comes with built
in torch for additional convenience. The ZEB-
PG4800 and ZEB-PG7200 comes with dual output
of 1A and 2A. All the 3 products are easy to use,
light weight and tiny in nature. All the necessary
cables and adapters are bundled with the power
banks.
Speaking about Adata products, Sudip de says
that, “as of now we have introduced 2 products,
Powerbank PV100 and Powerbank PC500. Apart
from this another product introduced by ADATA
is CE700 – a wireless mobile charger. Some of the
key features that we have are to keep users priceless
gadgets free from damaging are, overcharge
protection, over discharge protection, short circuit
protection, over voltage protection, over current
protection and over temperature protection. These
features have been developed by in-house R&D
team and surely going to be leading the path for
growth for ADATA in this segment,” he adds on.
He also adds that at present, Adata is working
very closely with its existing distributors and
regional distributors and their channel partners.
“Apart from this we are also exploring the
mobile segment, which eventually will be one of
the key drivers for the growth. To create awareness
in the market, we will be doing road shows and
channel meets specifically in the mobile segments
and highlighting the products USP to the partners.
Apart from this, with Internet penetration increasing
manifolds, we are also working closely on reaching out
to end users through this medium. With the usage of
smartphones and tablets increasing manifolds and
the power situation not improving immediately in
India, power banks are going to play a pivotal role to
keep people connected. Upcountry markets will lead
the path for this segment in terms of growth in the
coming quarters. The demand will be for not only
higher capacities but people looking in for features
to safeguard their devices,” he explains.
Speaking about the competition in this market
segment, Sandeep Popli from Lapcare says that,
“Broadly we have two types of competition.
One is from brands that compete on their value
proposition and other competition is from China
brand which can offer anything for price. We try
not to compete on price. Our products have unique
values and offerings,” he explains.
Power Bank Trends
As per the views of Rajesh Doshi, in today’s world, everyone wants to stay connected, no matter where they are. Mobile devices are helping people for faster and stable communication. “As these devices are getting more powerful and better, they are utilizing more battery for its processing and multitasking abilities. Power banks enable the users to maintain their communication for longer hours
and help them on the move. As more and more people are shifting to Smartphone and tablets for computing needs, accessories segment for these devices will also grow,” he explains.
According to Sudip De, usage of smart phone, tablets, digital cameras, portable gaming consoles being on the increase, power bank segment is one that is surely to keep rising in the coming quarters and give partners an ample opportunity for growth.
As per the views of Sandeep Popli, “Our focus is on high end products. We keep in mind the aesthetic values of the products and also the value proposition. Our product offering starts from 2200 mAh power bank and goes up to 12000 mAh. We will soon be launching power banks as high as 30,000 mAh capacities. Our unique solution is that we offer in built cables for all kind of mobile phone models. Our go to market strategy depends on the market which we plan to address. For IT and Retail market we are distributing products through RX Infotech P Limited. For markets like Gujarat and Maharashtra, we have set of Regional Distributors who are distributing the products in the market. Beginning from March we will be appointing Mobile accessories & mobile phone distributors as our RDs for power banks & other mobile related products. With the high growth on smart phones & also with a strong base of smart phones already in India, this market is going to grow many folds this year.” He adds on.
www.mobilityindia.com 19Mobility April 2014
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Special Story
Eight thousand towns,
630,000 villages, over
eight million stores and
1.2 billion people! In such a diverse
consumer universe, how do you
measure demand, where is it strongest?
North vs. South, the metros vs. Rural
- the choices are endless. Despite
current inflationary environment,
tier II and tier III towns are showing
strong momentum with an improved
demand appetite as far as mobiles and
smartphones are concerned.
We take a closer look at how the
smaller Indian towns are leading the
demand surge in the mobiles and
smartphone segment shopping like
metros.
In a year where consumer
confidence generally took a beating
with the European crises, high
interest rates, inflation, and political
uncertainty, the Indian FMCG market
managed to clock a respectable growth
rate of 15 percent in 2011 over the
previous year in value terms. While
some argue this signifies a worrisome
slowdown relative to the growth rates
of almost 19 percent witnessed in
the previous year, 2011 was still a
significant year for the Indian small
town consumer.
As we dissect the reasons behind
the 15 percent value growth and
identify where consumer demand
resides in India, for the first time
we find that the charge is led by the
tier II and tier III towns. The metros
have carried India for the last decade;
now smaller towns have taken on the
demand baton.
What are small-town Indian consumers demanding?
T h e s m a l l - t o w n d e m a n d
opportunity runs deep and wide.
From an FMCG perspective, within
the same year (Q4 over Q1 2011), we
found that 42 out of 83 categories in
Middle India grew at least 10 percent
or more in same-store sales; in smaller
towns (rest of urban, population of <1
lakh) this was even more broad-based
with 53 out of 83 categories clocking
at least a 10 percent growth in same-
store sales.
When we evaluate some of the
fastest growing categories from a
pure consumer pull perspective, we
find that many specialty and evolved
categories like pre-post wash, hair
conditioners, air fresheners, prickly
heat powder and cheese stack up on
the top of the list.
Decoding the Middle India consumer
Mobile telephony
Mobile phones have a stronghold
in Middle India. More than 94 percent
of the population claims to own a
phone for personal or office use.
Factors like affordability of handsets
and cheap call rates are driving the
growth of mobiles phones in these
regions. Consumers, especially youth,
are more open to experimenting with
handsets, and are excited about newer
technologies. If service providers offer
better mobile internet services in small
towns at affordable rates, it is likely
that a wave of consumers will skip the
computer-led internet access phase
and unlock the power of the web
through mobile devices. However, this
is possible only if telecom companies
make internet usage appealing,
affordable, and relevant to the Middle
India population.
The Upcountry Scenario
Arvind. R. Vohra, India Head
- Gionee Smartphones & Director,
Syntech Technology Pvt. Ltd. says that
Gionee’s marketing spends for Yr 2013
was Rs 45 crore and the brand plans
to spend about Rs 90 crore in 2014.
Upcountry Goes MobileRise of the Small Town India
Upcountry Goes MobileRise of the Small Town India
20 www.mobilityindia.com
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Special Story
Gionee India has also achieved close
to 2% market share by value since
its India entry in early 2013. Gionee
plans to open 250 Brand stores in 2014
across India along with increasing it’s
In shop promoters from 2000 in 2013
to 4000+ in 2014 and also increase
presence in over 2500 shop-in-shops.
As a company we firmly believe in
Depth of Distribution (DOD) and
we are touching 60% of upcountry
locations pan India,’ he adds on.
As per the views of Hitesh Shah,
Director, Channel Sales, BlackBerry
India, according to IDC, India is
slated to become the third largest
smartphone market by 2017, with
burgeoning demand from tier II
and tier III cities, apart from the
urban areas. Increased literacy, better
incomes, improved internet and
telecom connectivity coupled with
a 24X7 digitally connected young
population; is fuelling smartphone
adoption in the upcountry markets
of India. Realizing the potential that
these markets offer, we at BlackBerry
have introduced products and services
that are apt for consumers in these
areas, which include the BB OS7
devices that have seen great traction
amongst users in these markets.
“ T h a t s a i d , we h ave a l s o
launched our premium products
on the BlackBerry 10 OS such
as BlackBerry Q5,-bundled with
aggressive promotional campaigns
and EMI schemes during various
festive occasions. As a part of our
marketing outreach, we have tied up
with CCD outlets, colleges across the
country, etc to bring our products
and services closer to the young
consumers in these markets. We have
also deployed multiple channels to
reach out to customers in tier II/III
towns with large format retail stories,
BlackBerry exclusive stores and online
portals such as Flipkart. Today we
have around 4000 retail outlets and
100 service centers across 190 towns,
catering to our consumers,’ he adds.
According to Amit Saxena,
Director, Marketing, ZTE India,
ZTE believes that upcountry market
holds immense potential for the
Smartphone vendors including us.
‘We believe that the next growth wave
for the smartphone segment also lies
in the upcountry market. We also
have a definite strategy to reach out
to the upcountry market through our
innovative portfolio. When a vendor
is targeting the upcountry market,
it’s of paramount importance to keep
in consideration the local consumer
demands. We at ZTE, are committed
to understanding and innovating in
this direction. For instance, we have
introduced the global smartphones
in the Indian market in their dual-
sim and high camera quality versions,
just so that we meet the Indian
customer’s needs in the best possible
way. Our handsets are also multi-
lingual supporting multiple Indian
languages. We are soon introducing
this feature in our smartphone range
as well. Our branding and marketing
communications also have a regional
flavor. For instance, when we reach out
to customers in Maharashtra or say in
Gujarat, we essentially communicate
to them in their own language,’ he
adds on.
The Upcountry Potential
According to Arvind Vohra from
Gionee, Indian smartphone market
has witnessed a growth of 85% in 2013
with over 900 smartphones launched
across brands. The growth is likely
to witness upto 200% increase in the
Indian market by 2015.
”Recent report suggests that
consumers are more liable to get
attracted to brands that can offer the
best integration of features and yet
provide value for money. Smarthphone
category has witnessed unprecedented
growth over last 2 years in India
with over 85% increase compared to
previous years and will continue to
see the growth . Large screens, High
performing processors, Increasing use
of camera features due to rise in Social
media reach, multimedia content will
be the major factors and reason for the
rapid rise in this category. Gionee’s
primary focus has been to provide
the best quality hardware integrated
with best optimization of the software
for a great user experience. Since
our inception we have offered the
finest quality of smarthphones for
Indian consumers yet providing
value for money across our range. We
currently have 15 handsets ready in the
Indian market and we plan to launch
around 10 more smartphones in 2014.
Also with the help of 5 renowned
distributors we have mapped our
entire marketing and distribution
network. Gionee Smartphones plans
to further strengthen its Authorized
service center network by setting
up 500 + new Service centers across
India in 2014. The Authorized service
centers will further be increased to
750+ by 2015 to reach length and
breadth of India,’ he explains.
As Hitesh Shah puts it, ‘’At
the moment, if we go by industry
estimates, India still remains one of
the biggest markets for feature phones.
Only 10% of the population in the
upcountry is using smartphones as
opposed to feature phones. However,
as the price gap continues to narrow
between feature and smartphones,
we are seeing a lot of uptake for
smartphones. If the numbers are
any indication, smartphones are all
set to outmaneuver feature phones
within the next few years. According
to IDC, the smartphone market in
India grew by 229% in 2013, while the
share of feature phones continued to
slide further to make 81% of the total
mobile market in India. We expect
this number to go up significantly
as cited in industry reports that
imply a spike in the usage patterns
of smartphones in the age bracket of
16 and above years, where numbers
have gone from 5% in 2012 to 22%
this year, a four-fold increase. The
willingness to stay connected through
IMs, emails social network and apps
within these age groups is what is
driving the smartphone adoption
in these markets. They are the true
‘mobile first’ markets where people are
experiencing the power of the Internet
and its social culture for the first
time by using their mobile phones.
And therefore the opportunities the
“Gionee’s marketing spends for Yr 2013 was Rs 45 crore and the brand plans to spend about Rs 90 crore in 2014. Gionee India has also achieved close to 2% market share by value since its India entry in early 2013. Gionee plans to open 250 Brand stores in 2014 across India along with increasing it’s In shop promoters from 2000 in 2013 to 4000+ in 2014 and also increase presence in over 2500 shop-in-shops. As a company we firmly believe in Depth of Distribution (DOD) and we are touching 60% of upcountry locations pan India,”
ARVIND. R. VOHRAIndia Head - Gionee Smartphones & Director, Syntech Technology Pvt. Ltd.
“We have also launched our premium products on the BlackBerry 10 OS such as BlackBerry Q5,-bundled with aggressive promotional campaigns and EMI schemes during various festive occasions. As a part of our marketing outreach, we have tied up with CCD outlets, colleges across the country, etc to bring our products and services closer to the young consumers in these markets. We have also deployed multiple channels to reach out to customers in tier II/III towns with large format retail stories, BlackBerry exclusive stores and online portals such as Flipkart.”
HITESH SHAHChannel Sales, BlackBerry India
www.mobilityindia.com 21Mobility April 2014
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“We entered the Indian market announcing our entry level devices which are primarily in the affordable segment. These are specially designed to meet the mass market needs of the customers in metros and also upcountry. Very soon we will be expanding our portfolio announcing high end devices to meet the needs of premium customer segment. We also have an ambitious partner focused regional expansion plan which will help us ensure the best reach to the upcountry market. We also boast of one of the widest service network, with 214 service centers across the country.” AMIT SAXENA
Director, Marketing, ZTE India
Special Story
upcountry markets offer are immense
and hard to ignore for any smartphone
brand!,” he adds on.
Amit Saxena from ZTE says
that, although ZTE has a rich global
pedigree of innovating with latest
technology, when we forayed in the
Indian open market our strategy
was different. ‘We entered the Indian
market announcing our entry level
devices which are primarily in the
affordable segment. These are specially
designed to meet the mass market
needs of the customers in metros and
also upcountry. Very soon we will be
expanding our portfolio announcing
high end devices to meet the needs of
premium customer segment. We also
have an ambitious partner focused
regional expansion plan which will
help us ensure the best reach to the
upcountry market. We also boast of
one of the widest service network,
with 214 service centers across the
country. Today ZTE is one of the
top five mobile equipment brands
in the world, the reputation we have
painstakingly built over the years.
We are sure that our products, which
have industry leading standards, will
very soon create ripples in the Indian
market, including the upcountry,” he
adds on.
Challenges Ahead
Talking about the challenges,
Hitesh Shah from BackBerry says
that ‘As a part of our Go-to-Market
strategy, we are focused on building
and fortifying new and existing
relat ionship with our channel
and distribution partners. Having
developed our strong presence in
top 80 cities we looked at expanding
our reach to 190 cities and towns, as
these cities will drive the next phase
of growth for the industry. India
is a vast country and therefore the
challenges could sometime emerge
from the fact that the products need
to reach the customers in tier II/III
towns, along with competent support
facilities. Realizing this, we have been
working on our channel strategy
and have succeeded in establishing
the right kinds of distribution
channels and service networks. We
have identified the right distributors
who have optimum reach in the
upcountry markets and retain them by
providing apt levels of service support
to ensure that they get their return on
investment,’ he explains.
Speaking about the challenges,
Arvind Vohra says that the mobile
phone market is currently going
through a major upheaval as hundreds
of millions of users in India and
around the world upgrade from
cheaper and less-capable feature
phones to smartphones.
‘The biggest barrier for us is
the ability to convince users that
cheaper phones compromise on
user experience which includes
smartphone performance, speed and
hardware quality but good quality
is must for a great user experience.
Gionee over the years has believed in
keeping Innovation as its Core Value
Proposition which has helped the
company’s growth over the last decade.
. With our own R&D, Manufacturing
and Design centres Gionee ensure
that they provide excellent hardware
integrated smartphones along with
best software optimization for
exceptional user experience. 33%
of our revenues comes from the
smartphone sale in .the upcountry
locations,’’ he explains.
Upcountry Plans
Gionee plans to open 250 Brand
stores in 2014 across India along with
increasing its In shop promoters from
2000 in 2013 to 4000+ in 2014 and
also increase presence in over 2500
shop-in-shops.
‘We will be offering close to 15
phones in India this year including 10
smartphones and 5 feature phones.
Through our well laid distribution
channel and various marketing
initiatives in 2014 we plan to increase
the sales and recall PAN India in the
coming year. The brand plans to spend
about 90cr in 2014 for its marketing
initiatives double than its first year of
operation in 2013,’ Arvind Vohra from
Gionee adds on.
Expressing his views n Backberry,
Hitesh Shah says that, BlackBerry has
been and continues to innovate itself
as an iconic brand. Over the years,
BlackBerry has shown significant
movement and has evolved from being
just a smartphone to a versatile and
ubiquitous brand.
‘We position our products in
the market by doing some distinct
marketing activities across the country.
This helps us to drive awareness and
highlight the aspirational value of
our products and services and create
a deeper level of engagement with
the audiences. We will continue to
offer consumers a rich smartphone
experience that enriches their daily
habits providing seamless access to
content, information, productivity
and entertainment needs. We are
focussed to roll out new services and
software bundled with our devices to
differentiate ourselves in the market,
and drive profitable growth,’ he
explains.
Big Distributors for Backberry
Redington and Ingram Micro are
Blackberry’s major distributors in
India. “We currently are focusing on
the market with 4000 retail outlets
which include 500 stores in Large
Format Retail. Apart from these, we
also have 20 exclusive stores as well as
100 service centres across 190 towns
in India to ensure we deliver the right
experience to our customers. Since the
Indian smartphone market is largely
driven by retail channels, it becomes
important to enhance the retail
experience to our target consumers.
A unique initiative that we have
undertaken is to set up BlackBerry
Experience Zones which are based on
the store-in-store concept nationally,”
Hitesh Shah adds on.
Big Distributors for Gionee
Gionee has partnered with United
Telecoms Ltd, United Teleservices, UT
Electronics, Vishal Video & Appliances,
Priyanka Communications & Trust
Marketing that ensures its reach across
the 4 zones of the country.
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Mobility April 2014
Mobility Interaction
Mediaman Targets Growing Smartphone Sector for Storage Market
of the new one. That is the trend today.”
On the indispensable nature of memory
products in the present day, technology-
dominated life, Dushyant explains, “Memory
storage products have huge opportunity. You
cannot always depend on the Cloud for essential
information; you need to have it handy. For that
you need storage devices with you, at office or at
home. So far we have seen micro SD, SD cards
and USB but now there is a new innovation
called dual USB card which can be used in
both laptops and smartphones. New and more
efficient apps are appearing every now and then
for different purposes. The existing memory is
unable to meet the needs, so new innovations,
that will remarkable increase the memory
capacity, are bound appear increasingly in the
coming few years.”
Market strategy of Mediaman and Future
Trends
Regarding the mission and goals of
Mediaman, Dushyant adds, “We will tie-up with
large integrators. Per year smartphone market
is growing at the rate of 30% 40%. Our target
market for storage will be smartphones and the
allied areas. Soon innovative memory cards for
smartphones will appear which will be used for
many purposes—buying, transacting and so on.
We will be present in this market and will try
to gain maximum mileage. We are promoting
the memory products of SanDisk, Toshiba,
Transcend, etc wherever appropriate.
Now the trend is memory with added
solutions. Storage business has a great scope
in countries such as India and China where
populations are more and people’s disposable
incomes are steadily rising. This great
opportunity will be there for at least 5 more years.”
Main challenge the vendors and distributors
face is educating the channel since technology
is changing fast. In this regard, Dushyant
concludes, “Educating the channel is everybody’s
business—vendors’ as well distributors’. Earlier
people had to search for big files in the racks
and then carry big bundles of files. Now you
just need a pendrive—you can copy and carry
without affecting original files. Social media
and the Internet have become very important
platforms to the spread of technology. Whenever
there is a new innovation, we are ready to
promote it.”
Mediaman Infotech (P) Limited
was first founded in 1987 as
Mediaman by Mr. Dushyant
Mehta, and later incorporated as Mediaman
Infotech (P) Limited in 1996. Today, Mediaman,
with its headquarters in Mumbai and 40 sales
offices & stock locations (and growing) spread
across the country, is among the 15 largest
Information Technology distributors in India.
Current trends of memory market
Sharing his views on the present memory
market in India, Dushyant Mehta says, “Earlier
innovations used to survive for nearly 10 years
and the transition to new technology was rather
low. Today, new innovations are coming up after
every year and sometimes after 6 months—
both in software and hardware.” Today storage
technology has advanced a lot and data storage
needs have increased enormously, both in
size and quality. Every six months gadgets are
appearing with many new features added which
were unimaginable a decade ago. Dushyant
adds, “Today, you should learn a new thing
comes into the market, unlearn (or forget) what
you have learnt earlier and relearn on the lines
The growing market of smartphone in India offers huge scope for vendors who caters
to memery products. And Dushyant Mehta Chairman & CEO of Mediaman Infotech (P) Ltd. predicts that
this opportunity will be there for atleast next
5years.
Dushyant Mehta, Chairman & CEO,
Mediaman Infotech (P) Ltd.
www.mobilityindia.com 23Mobility April 2014
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LTE - The True Future for Mobile
Broadband
Driving the evolution of wireless broadband technology is c u s t o m e r s ’ i n c r e a s i n g
expectations for speed, bandwidth, and global access. Customers want more information, such as business and consumer applications, and entertainment available through their mobile devices, but with greater speeds. For wireless carriers to achieve greater speeds and pervasive connectedness, their networks need to start behaving more like landline IP-based networks.
This line of thinking represents a fundamental shift in perspective—
from mobile services to broadband connections—for customers and service providers alike. Enter the fourth-generation (4G) wireless network. Unlike earlier wireless standards, 4G technology is based on TCP/IP, the core protocol of the Internet. TCP/IP enables wireless networks to deliver higher-level services, such as video and multimedia, while supporting the devices and applications of the future.
The Benefits of LTE (Long Term Evolution)• Provides a global ecosystemwith
inherent mobility
• Offers easier access andusewithgreater security and privacy
• Dramatically improves speed andlatency
• Delivers enhanced real-timevideoand multimedia for a better overall experience
• Enableshigh-performancemobilecomputing
• Supportsreal-timeapplicationsdueto its low latency
• Creates a platform uponwhichto build and deploy the products
and services of today and those of tomorrow
• Reduces cost per bit throughimproved spectral efficiency
Wireless technologies enable one or more devices to communicate without an actual wired connection. Radio frequency is used to transmit the data. Such technologies are rapidly evolving to meet a variety of communications needs, from simple to complex.
Wireless communications needs can all be classified in one of three ways, based on the distance they are
Tech Story
24 www.mobilityindia.com
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Mobility April 2014
Tech Storymeant to cover. These include: wireless personal area networks (WPAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), and wireless wide area networks (WWAN). Wireless networks form the transport mechanism between devices and traditional wired networks. WPANs are limited to distances under about 10 meters and include technologies such as infrared (IR), Bluetooth® technology, and ultra-wideband (UWB). WLANs cover a local area with distances of individual access points reaching to about 100 meters, and include technologies such as Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n). WWANs cover even larger areas, using cellular data networks.
This section discusses some of the most popular and widely used wireless technologies to provide readers with a point of reference for the use of 3G technology.
WPAN
WPANs typically provide ad hoc network connections designed to dynamically connect devices to other devices within close range of each other. These connections are termed ad hoc because they do not generally need to connect to any network infrastructure to operate. They can simply connect to each other and perform necessary communications without the need of any access network devices, such as access points or base stations.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth has emerged as the most widely used WPAN network standard. The Bluetooth standard is an industry specification that describes how mobile phones, headsets, computers, handhelds, peripherals, and other computing devices should interconnect with each other. Bluetooth network applications include wireless headsets, hands-free operation, wireless synchronization, wireless printing, advanced stereo audio, dial-up networking, file transfer, and image exchange, to name a few.
WLAN
WLANs provide connections designed to connect devices to wired networks. Unlike a wired LAN, a WLAN does not require cabling to connect the device to a switch or router. Devices connect wirelessly to nearby wireless access points that are attached to the local network using an Ethernet connection. A single access point communicates with nearby WLAN devices in a coverage area of about 100 meters. This coverage area allows users to move freely within
range of an access point with their notebook computers, handhelds, or other network devices. Multiple access points can be coordinated together by a network WLAN switch to allow users to hand off between access points.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi (or IEEE 802.11) is the set of standards established to define wireless LANs. A number of different protocols are defined in the 802.11 family of standards, addressing var ious operat ing frequencies and maximum throughputs. The 802.11g standard is currently the predominant protocol deployed in WLAN implementations.
WWAN
WWANs provide broadband data networks with a far greater range, using cellular technologies such as GPRS, HSPA, UMTS, 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, and LTE. Wireless data devices connect to a wireless broadband network through a commercial carrier’s data network, allowing broadband performance without the need for a cabled connection to a network infrastructure (much like a WLAN), while providing end users with far greater mobility. These WWANs typically incorporate sophisticated user identification techniques to ensure that only authorized users are accessing the network. Multiple base stations are coordinated by base station controllers to allow users to hand off between base stations (cell sites).
LTE
As mentioned previously in this paper, LTE is a 4G wireless technology that Verizon Wireless and numerous leading wireless carriers have chosen as their upgrade path beyond 3G technologies.
Global System for Mobi le Communications (GSM) is 2G technology that offers both voice and data capabilities. GSM differs from 1G by using digital cellular technology and time division multiple access (TDMA) transmission methods, rather than CDMA. GSM offers data transmission rates of up to 9.6 Kbps, while enabling such services as short messaging service (SMS) or text messaging, as it is more commonly known, and international roaming.
W-CDMA
Wi d e b a n d Co d e D iv i s i o n Multiple Access (W-CDMA) brings GSM into 3G. W-CDMA is a type of 3G cellular network and is a high-
speed transmission protocol used in Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). UMTS offers packet-based transmission for text, digitized voice, video, and multimedia content.
HSPA
High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is a mobile telephony protocol that helps improve the performance of UMTS. HSPA uses improved modulation schemes, while refining the protocols that mobile devices and base stations use to communicate. These processes improve radio bandwidth utilization provided by UMTS.
LTE Overview and Development Background
Various technology standards bodies began to explore options for their 4G wireless technology offerings. Two groups, the Third Generation Pa r t n e r s h i p Pro j e c t ( 3 G P P ) , representing the family of networks generally referred to as GSM, and the Third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), representing the family of networks generally referred to as CDMA, are working together to lay the foundation for LTE.
Established in 1998, 3GPP i s a co l l ab or a t ive ag re ement that brought together multiple telecommunications standards bodies known as Organizational Partners. This group initiated the 3GPP LTE standards project to improve the UMTS mobile phone standard and to better meet future wireless technology needs. UMTS is one of the many 3G wireless technologies in use today. The most common form of UMTS uses W-CDMA as its underlying air interface and represents the European answer to the ITU IMT-2000 requirements for 3G cellular radio systems.
3 G P P 2 r e p r e s e n t s a collaboration between the numerous telecommunications associations that helped develop CDMA standards for 3G. LTE is a global 4G standard, with researchers and development engineers throughout the world part icipat ing in the joint-LTE radio access standardization effort, involving more than 60 operators, vendors, and research institutes. This is the same standards body that researched and established the GSM, GPRS, W-CDMA, and HSPA wireless standards. The LTE standard is tightly integrated with GPRS/UMTS networks and represents an evolution of radio access technologies and networks for UMTS.
LTE Standards Evolution
The 3GPP body began its initial investigation of the LTE standard as a viable technology in 2004. In March 2005, 3GPP began a feasibility study whose key goals were to agree on network architecture and a multiple access method, in terms of the functional split between the radio access and the core network. The study concluded September 2006 when 3GPP finalized selection of the multiple access and basic radio access network architecture. 3GPP decided to use OFDMA in the downlink direction and use SC-FDMA in the uplink direction.
The specifications for the LTE standard were approved by 3GPP in January 2007. The specifications are now under change control, leading to their inclusion in 3GPP Release 8. While the LTE requirements are finalized, the standard is not fully completed. LTE Release 8 was completed by late 2008.
LTE Performance Estimates and Technical Attributes
Once fu l ly deployed, LTE technology offers a number of distinct advantages over other wireless technologies. These advantages include increased performance attributes, such as high peak data rates and low latency, and greater efficiencies in using the wireless spectrum. Improved performance and increased spectral efficiency will allow wireless carriers using LTE as their 4G technology to offer higher quality services and products for their customers.
B e n e f i t s e x p e c te d f rom LT E technology:• High peak speeds: 100 Mbps
downlink (20 MHz, 2x2 MIMO)—both indoors and outdoors—50 Mbps uplink (20 MHz, 1x2)
• At least 200 active voice users inevery 5 MHz (i.e., can support up to 200 active phone calls)
• Low latency: < 5ms user planelatency for small IP packets (user equipment to radio access network [RAN] edge)
< 100 ms camped to active
< 50 ms dormant to active
• Scalable bandwidth: The 4Gchannel offers four times more bandwidth than current 3G systems and is scalable. So, while 20 MHz ––channels may not be available everywhere, 4G systems will offer channel sizes down to 5 MHz, in increments of 1.5 MHz.
• Improved spectrum efficiency:Spectrum efficiency refers to how limited bandwidth is used by the access layer of a wireless network.
www.mobilityindia.com 25Mobility April 2014
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Improved – spectrum efficiency allows more information to be transmitted in a given bandwidth, while increasing the number of users and services the network can support.
Two to four times more information can be transmitted versus the previous benchmark, HSPA Release 6.
• Improvedcelledgedatarates:Notonly does spectral efficiency improve near cell towers, it also improves at the coverage area or cell edge.
Data rates improve two to three times at the cell edge over the previous benchmark, HSPA Release 6.
• Packetdomainonly
• Enhanced support for end-to-end quality of service: Reducing handover latency and packet loss is key to delivering a quality service. This reduction is considerably ––more challenging with mobile broadband than with fixed-line broadband. The time variability and unpredictability of the channel become more acute. Additional complications arise from the need to hand over sessions from one cell to another as users cross coverage boundaries. These handover sessions require seamless coordination of radio resources across multiple cells.
Testing and Deployment
Many of the major global wireless carriers have lined up to support LTE as the foundation for their 4G network deployments. These global carriers include Verizon Wireless, as well as Vodafone, China Mobile, AT&T, China Telecom, KDDI, MetroPCS, NTT DoCoMo, and T-Mobile—plan to deploy LTE at some point in the future. Verizon Wireless and its European partner Vodafone have been among the most aggressive carriers in terms of LTE deployment timelines. Verizon Wireless has spent the past few years working with 3GPP standards in an effort to ensure interoperability between LTE and its current CDMA EV-DO Rev. A wireless broadband network. LTE field demonstrations in realistic urban scenarios were conducted starting in December 2007. These field trials proved that future LTE-based wireless networks can operate using existing base station sites. Also in 2007, LTE test calls were completed between infrastructure and device vendors using mobile prototypes. These calls were the first test of multi-vendor, over-the-air LTE interoperability.
In April 2008, the first public
announcements of LTE being demonstrated at high vehicular speeds were made with download speeds of 50 Mbps in a moving vehicle at 110 Kmph. Live 2x2 LTE solutions in 20 MHz were demonstrated at both Mobile World Congress 2008 and CTIA Wireless 2008. Among the new applications demonstrated on LTE networks (at various bands, including the new 1.7/2.1 GHz AWS band) were high-definition video blogging, high-definition video on demand and video streaming, multi-user video collaboration, video surveillance, and online mobile gaming. A handover between CDMA and LTE was also demonstrated, showcasing migration poss ibi l i t ies between the two generations of wireless technologies. Beginning third quarter 2008, UMTS/HSPA base stations were upgradable to LTE. Many bands are supported by these base stations, including the 1.7/2.1 GHz AWS band and the recently auctioned 700 MHz bands by the FCC in the United States.
Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, and China Mobile conducted laboratory and over-the-air tests of LTE in early 2008, followed by successful field tests in northern New Jersey; Columbus, Ohio; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. The final phase of LTE testing began in the second quarter of 2009, and 700 MHz tests commenced in June 2009 after the Digital Television (DTV) transition. Verizon Wireless will continue LTE testing throughout most of 2009, and will offer service in some 30 markets in 2010.
LTE Supporting Technologies
The fol lowing information describes the various supporting technologies that make up LTE.
MIMO
Multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) employs multiple transmit and receive antennas to substantially enhance the air interface. It uses space-time coding of the same data stream mapped onto multiple transmit antennas.
OFDM
In the downlink, orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) was selected as the air interface for LTE. OFDM is a particular form of multicarrier modulation (MCM). In general, MCM is a parallel transmission method that divides a radio frequency channel into several, more narrow-bandwidth subcarriers and transmits data simultaneously on each subcarrier.
OFDM is well suited for high
data rate systems that operate in multipath environments because of its robustness to delay spread. The cyclic extension enables an OFDM system to operate in multipath channels without the need for a complex.
Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE) or Maximum Likelihood Sequence Est imat ion (MLSE) equalizer. As such, it is straightforward to exploit frequency selectivity of the multipath channel with low-complexity receivers. This allows frequency-selective scheduling, as well as frequency-diverse scheduling and frequency reuse one-deployments.
Furthermore, due to its frequency domain nature, OFDM enables fl exible bandwidth operation with low complexity.
Smart antenna technologies are also easier to support with OFDM, because each subcarrier becomes fl at faded and the antenna weights can be optimized on a per-subcarrier or block of subcarriers basis. In addition, OFDM enables broadcast services on a synchronized single frequency network (SFN) with appropriate cyclic prefi x design. This allows broadcast signals from diff erent cells to combine over the air, thus signifi cantly increasing the received signal power and supportable data rates for broadcast services.
SC-FDMA
Single-carr ier FDMA (SC-FDMA) was chosen to reduce Peak to Average Ratio (PAR), which has been identified as a critical issue for use of OFDMA in the uplink where power-efficient amplifiers are required in mobile devices. Another important requirement was to maximize the coverage. For each time interval, the base station scheduler assigns a unique time-frequency interval to a terminal for the transmission of user data, thereby ensuring intracell orthogonality. Slow power control, for compensating path loss and shadow fading, is sufficient as no near-far problem is present due to the orthogonal uplink transmissions. Transmission parameters, coding, and modulation are similar to the downlink transmission.
The chosen SC-FDMA solution is based on using a cyclic prefix to allow high-performance and low-complexity receiver implementation in the eNodeB. As such, the receiver requirements are more complex than in the case of OFDMA for similar link performance, but this is not considered to be a problem in the base station. The terminal is only assigned with contiguous spectrum blocks in the frequency domain to maintain the
single-carrier properties and thereby ensure power-efficient transmission. This approach is often referred to as blocked or localized SC-FDMA.
Why LTE
Higher data rates and lower latency make LTE connections more responsive, enabling real-time multicast applications, such as online gaming and video conferencing.
LTE network results in a longer range from the base station, compared with systems operating at 2.5 GHz or 3.5 GHz. In addition, using the 700 MHz frequency allows for better in-building penetration and coverage by wireless signals, helping to improve network conditions. LTE also offers mobile users better coverage as they travel by providing seamless handover and roaming for true mobility.
LTE is better suited for global adoption than WiMAX. Although 2.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and 5.8 GHz bands are allotted in many regions of the world, many growth markets require new allocations to service their populations. Given the diverse requirements and regulations of various governments, it will be a challenge for WiMAX to achieve global harmonization.
LTE has strong and widespread support from the mobile industry, including support from a majority of the industry’s key players. Many vendors will enable operator transition to LTE in a progressive, scalable, and cost-effective way—protecting investments in existing technologies made by today’s GSM and CDMA carriers. GSM is the most popular mobile communications standard currently in use.
Carriers on the GSM standard predominate around the globe and will use LTE as their wireless network upgrade pathway. According to an April 2008 report from Gartner Inc., the GSM family will account for 89% of the global market in 2011. In addition, LTE figures to enjoy widespread device support as most major device vendors have publicly announced the development of products to take advantage of LTE.
• LTE enjoys strong, widespreadsupport from the mobile industry, both from wireless carriers and vendors alike.
• Multiple vendors, operators, andresearch institutes are participating in standardizing LTE. This provides a good base for creating a healthy technological ecosystem.
• TheVerizonWireless IMS/AIMScore network is access-technology agnostic and supports LTE.
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Mobility Personality
“Intel is partnering with Indian OEMs to launch innovative devices”
What is the broad strategy that Intel is having towards the tablet segment in India as well as globally?
Tablets represent a big, growth
market and we are targeting to ship
40Mu this year, globally. Based on the
success of Bay Trail as well as the product
and customer agreements we have
announced at Mobile World Congress,
we have a rich pipeline of tablet and
phablet design wins, which put us on a
path to meet our goal. In India, we are
also engaged with a few local OEMs to
bring Intel powered tablets to market.
What kind of market share does ‘Intel Inside’ driven tablets have today, when compared with Android or Apple driven tablets?
As a company policy we do not
comment on figures pertaining to
market share. At the same time, I
would like to clarify that today our
customers are shipping tablets based
on Intel Architecture running both
Android as well as Windows.
Please share your strategy to garner more market share in this space?
In 2014, Intel has increased its
focus on the tablet space globally.
Locally Intel is partnering with select
local OEMs such as Micromax to
launch innovative new devices in
the mobility segment. This is part of
our overall strategy to increase our
market share in the country. Key to
success here is design wins and we
are committed to bringing innovating
form factors at attractive price points,
offered by multinational as well as
local OEMs.
In India, we will not only focus
on the consumers, but also the
education segment as well as the large
government tender deals.
In the coming months and quarters, how does Intel look at this segment of converging segment of tablets -- more and more technologies are getting packed inside one device and many vendors are jumping on the bandwagon today? Your comments please.
As the tablet market matures,
vendors are trying to cater to different
consumer preferences in terms of
price, screen size, OS, calling features
and so on. And as you see the market
evolving, we are also going to see the
mainstream players bringing a great
experience at really good price points
in the market. Case in point is Dell that
recently launched their Venue range
of tablets powered by Intel which is
available in the market for less than
`10,000.
At present how many brands support Intel platform for tablets on global scale? What is Intel doing to increase the effort here?
At the MWC, several of our
customers announced new products
based on our processors and modems,
including ASUS’ new Fonepad with
Intel LTE, and the HP ElitePad 1000
and HP ProPad 600, the first 64-
bit Windows tablets with BayTrail.
Intel also announced a multi-year
agreement with Lenovo to introduce
new Intel-based mobile devices across a
variety of smartphone and tablet form
factors spanning value to performance
market segments. Foxconn and Intel
are teaming up to drive the broader,
global availability of high-quality,
affordable Intel-based Android tablets.
Intel will provide Atom processors
and communications platforms for a
range of Foxconn products beginning
this year. Apart from these, we already
have Dell and Acer that have their
Intel powered tablets running on Intel
available in the Indian market.
In our interactions with the channel community, it has come out that channel partners are becoming more comfortable and eager to sell tablets / phablets and hence sales of traditional PC or laptop is coming down heavily. What is your opinion on this?
Channels business run on volumes
and the growing tablet/phablet gives
them an opportunity to sell more to
the consumers. Tablets are definitely
hot right now, but PC has its own
relevance and in my opinion, both will
continue to co-exist in a consumer’s
home. In fact, if you look at smaller
cities, there is a very healthy desktop
demand that channels cater to.
Intel is largely seen as a traditional PC and Laptop powering company and not a tablet or phablet organization do you agree on this?
Intel continues to maintain its
position as the global leader when it
comes to processors for traditional
PCs. With changing market realities,
we are focusing on Mobility as a
growth business for us and making
the necessary investments in our
development, in market expansion,
sales and marketing to win share.
And we are making good progress on
the product front. At Mobile World
Congress 2014, Intel announced:
• Two new 64-bit ready Intel®
Atom™ processors – the dual
core Merrifield and the quad
core Moorefield, which offer an
ideal combination of fast, smart
performance and long battery life
for mainstream and performance
Android smar t phones and
tablets.
• Intel officially introduced the
new Intel® XMM™ 7260 – a
power-efficient, small footprint
communications processor with
compet i t ive LTE-Advanced
f e a t u re s i n c lu d i n g c a r r i e r
aggregation, CAT6 speeds and
support for TD-LTE and TD-
SCDMA.
• Customeragreementsanddesign
wins that expand the availability of
Intel-based mobile devices:
• In te l announced a mul t i -
year agreement with Lenovo
to introduce new Intel-based
mobile devices across a variety of
smartphone and tablet form factors
spanning value to performance
market segments.
• ASUSwilldeliverabroadportfolio
of Intel-based smartphones and
tablets. At MWC, ASUS unveiled
t h e A S U S Fon ep a d 7 LT E
–featuring an Intel Atom processor
and Intel LTE connectivity.
• Foxconn and Intel are teaming
up to drive the broader, global
availabil ity of high-quality,
affordable Intel-based Android
tablets. Intel will provide Atom
processors and communications
platforms for a range of Foxconn
products beginning this year.
• HPannouncedthefirst64-bitBay
Trail tablets - the HP ElitePad 1000
and the HP ProPad 600.
Af t e r h a v i n g f o c u s e d heavily towards garnering big marketshare in the
tablets and mobility space, India is a big market for Intel today and the company is going after mobility products driven local brands such as Micromax in order to make big inroads in the local market. Sandeep Aurora, Director, Marketing and Market Development, Intel South Asia shares his thoughts on the company’s strategy for India and the road ahead.
Sandeep Aurora, Director, Marketing and Market Development, Intel South Asia
www.mobilityindia.com 27Mobility April 2014
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Special Report
Gionee Presents Special and Slimmest Smartphone – Elife S5.5
Gionee is very overwhelmed by its unprecedented success with ELIFE series within
a year of operations in India. In an another grand launch after E7 event which was held at Buddha Internation Circuit Noida. Gionee had invited people from all over India in a destination launch event of Elife 5.5 in Goa. In the guest list they have included their dealers, distributors, bloggers, media people and many important company heads and employees from China.
For this mega event they have also organized various cultural activities with some great bollywood personalities.
Speaking on the occasion Gionee India Head Mr. Arvind Vohra said that the firm has seen a rise in popularity and company shipped 24 million phones in 2013 out of which 1 million phones were shipped to the Indian market. It has set a target of shipping 35 million units globally and 6 million phones in India, in 2014.Zone wise the company considers Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh West Bengal and Punjab as its top performers and now plans to strengthen its position in the metros. He also mentioned that Gionee India started operations in March 2013 and has done business of over Rs.500 crore and its next target is to touch a turnover of Rs.2,500 crore by the end of financial year 2014-15.
Gionee President William Lu said “Smartphones are treated both as
electronics and pie of art by consumers worldwide and that’s why we adapted a new approach with a focus in design. Smartphone is something that we carry on a daily basis, they are like a part of the human body, and there is zero distance between a user and their smartphones. This is similar to a piece of fashion clothing; it represents its user’s taste, personality, and even identity. The ELIFE S5.5 is crafted with a distinct metallic frame and Corning Gorillas Glass Uni-Body. It uses the world’s thinnest AMOLED Screen, thinnest PCB board with a 0.6MM and 0.4mm glass rear
cover. We are proud to bring in this unique innovation first time in the world and it will be our constant endeavor to continue bringing in the best always” We are launching this smartphone in 40 markets across the globe and India is the second market after China, which itself speaks about the importance of this country for us.
Firstlook of Gionee Elife S5.5:
This phone certainly got the tag of worlds slimmest smartphone, it beats Vivo X3 which is 5.75mm, also beats Huawei Ascend P6 and Sony Z
Ultra which measured 6.18 and 6.5 respectively. Gionee Elife S5.5 sports a sleek metal frame with a thickness of 5.5mm and weighs 130 grams. This ELIFE S series is a new product category from Gionee, targeted for those customers who desire for a slim and powerful smartphone to also act as a fashionable accessory. And at our first look we feel that it has that design and style element that will appeal many fashion oriented customers. And Elife S5.5 comes in Black, White, Pink, Blue so you can pick one of your kind of color that suits your personality. The phone features a 5-inch full-HD (1920 X 1080p) Super AMOLED Plus display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Powered by a 1.7GHz MediaTek MT6592 octa-core processor and 2GB RAM, Gionee S5.5 comes with 16GB internal storage and doesn’t include a microSD card slot. It sports a 13MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP 95 degree ultra-wide angle front-facing camera. The single-sim phone runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with Gionee’s Amigo UI running on top. It has a 2,300mAh battery. Connectivity options include 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. Gionee Elife S5.5 comes in Black, White, Pink, Blue and Purple color variants. At a price of Rs 22,999. The smartphone will be available in the Indian market starting April 27.
• 5.0” Super AMOLED Plus display
• Octa- Core 1.7GHz CPU
• Single SIM
• 13.0MP AF +5.0MP AF Camera 95 Degree Ultra-Wide Angle
• AMIGO OS 2.0 (based on Android OS, V4.2)
• Memory: 16GB+2GB
• Ultra slim 145.1 x 70.2 x 5.55mm
• GSM-850/900/1800/1900MHz
• WCDMA-850/1900/2100MHz or 900/1900/2100MHz
• 3.5 mm Earphone Jack
• WIFI/GPS/BT4.0/FM/G-sensor
• Non-removable 2300mAh Battery
• OTG
ELIFE S5.5 Full Specifications
CMYK
Mobility Interview
BYOD and BYOS not a “zero-sum” game
In recent years, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and Bring Your Own Service (BYOS) have
been at the forefront of empowering mobility among employees. According to an analyst report, Asian businesses are lagging behind in enterprise mobility opportunities due to a lack of understanding about mobility and
how this can create more value for enterprises.
CommunicAsia 2014 speaks to Foo Tiang Lim, Market Development, Asia Pacific at Evernote for his perspectives on the BYOD, BYOS and most recently, Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) phenomenon.
What are the challenges and op-portunities for companies to con-sider implementing BYOS?
Employers need to trust their
employees; otherwise, tech and IT
will always be built from a “restrictive”
view rather than a “permissive” one.
Also they have to trust the employee to
make the best productivity choices for
themselves in using tools and services
they are already familiar with. If they
do that the productivity gains are
bound to happen.
With the new generation of em-ployees expecting BYOD policies to be in place at enterprises they work for, what are the implications for businesses when employees also expect to be able to BYOS?
BYOD & BYOS are not passing fads
and are here to stay. For a business to
thrive in today’s economy and compete
on a global stage, a transformation to
more creative and high value added
output is needed, and knowledge
work is the crucial ingredient to do
that. A natural concern that rises
out of BYOD and BYOS would
be security and confidentiality of
company information. However, the
crux of the issue would be employees
having to deal with sub-optimal user
experiences that frustrate, causing
employees to use tech that they
prefer. Hence, businesses should
strive to provide the best tools to
equip its workforce to be able to fully
realise the potential of the company.
Instead of being concerned about
BYOS, companies should embrace
this trend as it could help to increase
productivity in the long run.
How can companies ensure the se-curity of sensitive corporate infor-mation?
A re-thinking of the role of the
IT department is needed. Currently,
a majority of IT departments play
the role of “enforcers” instead of
“facilitators”.
Too many discussions of the
BYOD/BYOS trend are framed as
a zero sum game, but that is not
true, as security does not have to be
compromised to enjoy the benefits of
BYOD/BYOS. The key thing is to apply
the right thinking in the right areas of
the business, at the right levels.
Additionally, the HR department
plays an active role in ensuring that
the right employees are hired. This,
coupled with an office culture of
transparency and trust, would help
in ensuring the security of sensitive
corporate innovation with the BYOD/
BYOS trend.
Now there is also CYOD, is this moving too fast for companies, es-pecially in Asia, to meet the expec-tations of the knowledge worker?
This is actually an encouraging
sign, and also an indication of
the shifting of the role of the IT
departments around the world. Again
the key thing is to work
together with your workforce to craft
a productivity IT strategy. CYOD
isn’t a fad if you think about what the
issue really is, and that is knowledge
workers deserve the best and most
productive experiences at work. The
question of whether BYOD/BYOS/
CYOD facilitates, should not be an
end in itself.
Focusing on the welfare of
employees is not just a courteous or
morally right thing to do, it’s a very
real business strategy. Productivity
cannot be forced out of knowledge
workers, the only way a company is
able to raise their productivity levels
is to ensure that the welfare of the
employees is taken care of. Like with
giving them the best experiences at
work also allow them to choose their
software & hardware.
CommunicAsia2014 Summit: Consumerisation of the Enterprise – BYOD vs. CYODThe CommunicAsia2014 Summit will address the implications, challenges and opportunities of BYOD and BYOS. Foowill be speaking at the ‘Consumerisation of the Enterprise – BYOD vs. CYOD’ session which takes place on Day 3 of the Summit, 19 June 2014.He will be talking about the following topics:
BYOD – Focus on your Employees’ Experience, Not the Device
• Why your people demand BYOD/BYOS: the discerning tastes of the modern knowledge worker
• What companies can do to embrace that and overcome it: the importance of creating “business-class” experiences for your team and teams
• What companies will need in the future: the augmented workforce
www.mobilityindia.com 29Mobility April 2014
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30 www.mobilityindia.com
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Mobility April 2014
Product Feature
Nokia X Series – The Untrue Android
the smaller screen, as it would be
hard to hold something that small
and thin.
The screen doesn’t seem to suffer
either – the contrast is strong, helped
by the smorgasbord of colour on offer
from the live tiles.
There’s not a lot else on offer
here in terms of ports or anything –
the mandatory headphone jack and
camera (which is only a 3MP option
with no flash) are the only other items
in a sea of matte plastic.
But this isn’t meant to be a phone
that’s all about design – the Nokia X
is supposed to offer a differentiated
user experience from the rest of the
identikit Android phones on the
market.
To that end, I actually rather
liked what Finland’s top Microsoft
subsidiary is doing – there’s a nice
fusion of Android familiarity and
Windows Phone functionality.
The live tiles idea is really cool
– it’s essentially just a clever way of
� SleekUI
� Lowcost
� Lowstorage
� Chunkydesign
doing Android widgets, but while
other launchers can make things look
too complex, Nokia is doing things
its own way and making it all seem
a lot cooler.
For instance, there’s no ‘Apps’ key
that shows all the little bits of software
you’ve downloaded – now it’s all in
one long list that just endlessly scrolls.
To that end, it can get a bit messy, so
Nokia’s method of creating folders
is needed and something that wasn’t
possible on Windows Phone.
It’s nothing special, and you can’t
just drag and drop to create a folder,
instead needing to tap an icon. But
at least dragging the live tile icons
for each app will allow you to move
the order around automatically, and
some, such as the gallery, will expand
to show pictures in your album.
There’s even the chance to change
the colour of some apps to match your
theme – although the fact you can’t do
this to all of them means this feature
is slightly negated.
You can also see more notifications
on the lock screen than you might on
other Nokia phones - it’s a little boring
in terms of design, but works well
enough.
The other big change is Nokia’s
Fast Lane – it’s an odd change from
the notifications bar, as it’s essentially
the same thing but one long scrolling
page that can be accessed by swiping
right or left.
It’s cool in some respects, as it
allows you to dynamically control
things like the music player, and
always keeps your most-used apps
close at hand. However, there is still
the same pull-down bar as on other
Android handsets here, but it’s only
for changing settings.
Fast Lane isn’t the same as the multi-
tasking menu you’ll get on the likes of
most other Android phones - while long
pressing the icon will shut it down, the
app apparently still runs.
Design and interface
The Nokia X is the Finnish brand’s
big effort to make greater waves into
the low, low end of the smartphone
market – and it’s enlisted the help of
Android to make that happen.
The Nokia X is a phone that
comes with a fairly decent spec list for
a phone that’s coming in at €89 before
tax (around £75, $120, AU$135)
– we’re talking a dual-core 1GHz
processor from Qualcomm, 512MB
of RAM, a 4-inch WVGA screen and
a 1500mAh battery.
However, it’s important not to
compare to this to the likes of the
Moto G, as it’s not meant for the
more developed regions in terms
of smartphone use. This is for areas
where Android devices are sold at a
much lower average price, but still can
do the basic things that others can.
With that in mind, the Nokia X is
probably a little better than OK. The
polycarbonate body is fairly chunky,
but in the hand it dovetails well with
www.mobilityindia.com 31Mobility April 2014
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Product Feature
Karbonn Titanium X – Remarkable Smartness
One of the most remarkable
t r e n d s i n t h e I n d i a n
mobile industry over the
past few months has been the rise
of smartphones sporting full-HD
screens. Although such devices used
to cost a lot of money in the past,
a number of companies are now
releasing more wallet-friendly models.
The trend in the country might have
been set by global brands, but Indian
domestic handset makers are not far
behind.
Micromax was the first Indian
brand to join the full-HD bandwagon
with its Canvas Turbo launched last
year. Now, after a period of relative
quiet, Karbonn has marked its return
to the Indian market with its first
smartphone with full-HD display, the
Karbonn Titanium X.
Karbonn is clearly in the mood
to win significant market share, and
it’s back with a vengeance in terms of
both specifications and price. But does
company’s first full-HD smartphone,
the Titanium X, pack enough punch
to overcome more established players
such as Samsung, Micromax, HTC,
LG and Xolo? We take a closer look at
this smartphone.
Look and feel
The Titanium X is a departure
from the company’s usual Android
smartphone design, and it looks like
a lot of time was spent on the design
stage. The Karbonn Titanium X is
definitely light at 143 grams, and
sports rounded edges. It is sturdy, but
it might be a little too wide for single-
handed operation, and those blessed
with smaller palms will find it tiring
to carry the device around. The 5.0-
inch full-HD display takes up most
of the space in the front with a silver
lining around the edges. Like most
other smartphones, the ambient light
and proximity sensors are lined up on
top alongside the earpiece and front-
facing camera. We were amazed to see
the 5-megapixel front-facing camera
accompanied by an LED flash at the
� GoodDesign
� Lowcost
� Lowbatterybackup
� Camerahandling
top. We assume that it’s meant to be
helpful for taking selfies. Beneath the
display one can find the Home,
Display
The screen of a smartphone is
a critical aspect to consider when
making a purchase decision, and of
late, smartphones such as the Spice
Pinnacle FHD, Wicked Leak Wammy
Passion Z Plus and Micromax Canvas
Turbo have hit the market, all with
full-HD displays and all priced under
Rs. 20,000. The Karbonn Titanium
X now joins the same club. An HD
screen might not make a difference to
many people, but when you hold one
of these phones up next to a device
with a low-resolution screen, you can
see the difference.
The Titanium X features a 5.0-
inch IPS full-HD (1080x1920 pixels)
screen with pixel density of 441ppi.
The panel attracts a lot of smudges,
but nothing that cannot be wiped
away quickly. The screen has decent
viewing angles and though colour
reproduction is not the best, it gets
the job done.
Camera
In terms of photographic ability,
Karbonn has equipped the mid-range
Titanium X with a 13-megapixel
autofocus rear camera accompanied
by a dual-LED flash. The rear camera
offers 4x digital zoom, HD (1080p)
video recording, touch to focus and
a panorama mode. The Titanium X
also includes HDR mode for video
recording, which has been seen on
some high-end Android smartphones.
Other features seen in the camera app
include portrait retouch, self-timer,
self-portrait voice guide, smile shutter,
focus mode, and ISO and exposure
value adjustment. The rear camera can
click images at a maximum resolution
of 4128x3096 pixels.
Software/ Interface
At a time when the world is
waiting for Android 4.4.2 KitKat to
arrive on its handsets, Karbonn has
used Android 4.2 Jelly Bean for the
Titanium X, which is disappointing.
The Karbonn Titanium X ships
with Android 4.2.2 out of the box.
It might not be the most up-to-date,
but it’s the most popular version of
Android on mid-range smartphones
in India at the moment. We are yet to
hear any details about Karbonn’s plans
to update the Titanium X.
Performance/ Battery Life
The Karbonn Titanium X is
powered by a quad-core MediaTek
chipset (MT6589T) clocked at 1.5GHz
along with 1GB of RAM and PowerVR
SGX544 GPU. MediaTek’s updated
MT6589T processor was launched
last year, so it should perform quite
decently. Unfortunately, this didn’t
translate to real-world performance.
We found that the Titanium X
lagged when launching some apps.
Admittedly, the lag is not consistent
but considering that this is a quad-core
processor, it is quite disappointing.
It came as no surprise that the
benchmark scores were not impressive
at all. As expected, the Karbonn
Titanium X barely made it through
our synthetic benchmarks. The
CPU performance scores were not
impressive: the phone scored 14,930
in AnTuTu and 5,701 in Quadrant.
On the graphics front, it only managed
to push 3.4 frames per second in the
GFXbench test, while it scored 1735
in the 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme
runthrough.
Verdict
The Karbonn Titanium X is a
mix of good and greateness in it.
The 5.0-inch full-HD display is no
doubt the USP of the device and is
great for watching videos on, but
colour reproduction can be a bit of
a damper. The Karbonn Titanium X
is not a perfect phone by any means,
but when you consider its price tag, it
is not a bad performer at all.
32 www.mobilityindia.com
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Mobility April 2014
Product Feature
Lava Xtron+ (Plus) Tablet – Affordably Yours
Lava Xtron Plus Tab is one of the best affordable tablet which comes at
decent price price and specifications for multimedia and good gaming
experience.
Lava Xtron+ (Plus) Tablet is a 7 Inch capacitive touch screen and runs
on 1.5 GHz Dual Core Cortex-A9 Processor and 1 Gb DDR3 RAM and Mali
400 Quad Core GPU which makes it a decent performer on the gaming and
performance front, however the camera you get on rear is 2 MP Fixed Focus
and 1.3 Fixed Focus on the front as well but you cant expect everything thing
to be good at the price at which tablet comes, one major hardware change is
that it has mini HDMI port to connect the tablet to TV or external monitor.
Lava Xtron Plus Tab Quick Specs
• Display Size: 7 inch capacitive touch screenwith1024x 600pixels
resolution
• Processor:1.5GHzDualCoreCortexA9
• RAM:1GbDDR3
• SoftwareVersion:Android4.2.2(JellyBean)OS
• Camera:2MPFFcamera.
• SecondaryCamera:1.3MPfront-facingcameraFF[FixedFocus]
• InternalStorage:8GBwith5GBapproxuseravailable
• ExternalStorage:Expandableupto32GB
• Battery:3700mAhbatteryLithiumIon
• Connectivity:Wi-Fi802.11b/g/n,aGPS,3.5mmaudiojack,HDMI
� SleekInterface
� Lowcost
� Lowondesign
� Size
Box Contents
Tablet, Screen guard pre installed, Circular thin pin charger, Edukart
Gift, Bigflix coupon etc, warranty card and user manual, OTG Cable, but no
MicroUSB Cable in the package, you will have to buy it on your own.
Build Quality, Design and Form Factor
The build quality of this tablet is good, it has a aluminum metal back
cover and the weight of the tablet is around 360 grams, design is good feels
solid and looks premium in hands. The form factor is good, tablet is around
11.9 mm in thickness which makes it easy to go into a bag but you may not
be able to fit this tablet in a normal size jeans pocket and carry case would be
a better choice.
Display, Memory and Battery Backup
It has 7 inch capacitive touch screen with 1024 x 600 pixels resolution is
a quite good in terms of pixels density but the viewing angles on the display
are not too good. The in built memory is another good thing about this tablet
as you get 5 Gb approx free storage so that you can install more games and
apps on without SD card required. But when the free storage is exhausted you
wont be able to install apps on SD card but you can move apps from device
internal memory to SD Card. The battery backup is around 3-4 hours with
moderate usage.
Software, Benchmarks and Gaming
The software UI is mostly stock android with no customizations,
the benchmarks scores are mentioned below and device is capable
of playing most of the graphic intensive and casual games.
Camera Performance
Both 2 MP rear camera and 1.3 MP Front camera is average
in terms of performance, you can check out the camera samples
below.
Sound, Video and Navigation
The sound quality from the loudspeaker is good and loud
enough but slightly has more noise than bass. It can also play HD
videos at both 720p and 1080p but the videos will not get played
in full screen because of the touch capacitive navigation buttons
which take away some part of the screen. It can also be used for
Navigation with the help of assisted GPS.
Conclusion and Price
Lava Xtron Plus tablet is a great tablet offered at a basic price
point at Rs. 6999 INR, it does come up with the right hardware
which suits the gaming needs of the most of the casual gamers
out there and on the top it can run some graphic intensive games
as well.
www.mobilityindia.com 33Mobility April 2014
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Product Feature
HP Slate 7 Voicetab - The Impressive Tab
HP’s primary business is in
desktop PCs and laptops. But
it makes tablets too, and in
a market that’s becoming ever more
congested HP has launched the HP
Slate 7 Voicetab and Slate 6 Voicetab.
They are fairly low cost phone-tablet
hybrids.
Aside from a 1-inch screen size
difference they are almost identical,
but I’ll be focusing on the Slate 7
� SuperDesign
� AffordableCost� Processingpower
Voicetab as this one has already been
confirmed for the Indian market.
HP Slate 7 Voicetab – Design and Features
From a glance the HP Slate 7
Voicetab looks metallic. It is actually
plastic, but feels robust. There are
some small areas where the joins
aren’t quite as tight as they could be,
but I’ve seen much worse from pre-
production models and these small
issues should be resolved before it
hits shelves.
The HP Slate 7 Voicetab is light
and reasonably compact for a 7-inch
tablet. It doesn’t have as much blank
space above and below the screen as
the Nexus 7, even though it has stereo
front-facing speakers.
The tablet has a removable
backplate, which hides a microSD
slot and dual SIM slots – one micro
and one full-size. These SIM slots let
the HP Slate 7 Voicetab act like a big
phone. You’ll look stupid holding it
up to your face to take a call but HP
thinks it’s a worthwhile feature, and
suggests those put off by the size can
use a Bluetooth headset. I’m not keen
on the idea of using a 7-inch tablet
to make calls, but the second SIM
provides a truly useful feature - free
3G data.
Unlike the iPad mini Retina or
Nexus 7 you don’t
have to pay extra
for 3G capability.
The baseline model
includes the SIM
slots and you even
get free mobile data
allowance.
A 1.2GHz quad-
core processor with
1GB RAM (of as yet
unknown origin)
powers the Slate
7 Voicetab and it
seems fast enough
to run Android 4.2
Jelly Bean smoothly.
Apps open quickly
and there was no
obvious lag when
scrolling through
h o m e p a g e s o r
menus.
H P ’ s l a t e s t
phone-tablet seems
carefully considered
and sensible. Its
stand-out feature
is a free data service
rather than flashy
hardware. This is a
solid product at a
competitive price,
and a very cost-
effect ive way of
getting an always
connected Android
tablet with some
data allowance.