Micromax bets on 10,000 local language apps to regain market share

NEW DELHI: Leading homegrown handset maker Micromax is betting on the 'desi' way to connect with the masses, offering translation and transliteration while messaging, and access to App Bazaar with 10,000 apps in local languages, a first by any handset maker in India.
India's No. 2 handset maker is using a patented swipe technology from MoFirst Solutions that can translate and transliterate messages in 10 local languages, including Hindi to English, and vice-versa, with a swipe.
This service, combined with Mo-First's Android-based regional language operating system Firstouch, is an attempt by Micromax to cut through the cluttered and crowded smartphone market at a time when it has seen its market share erode over a couple of quarters with Chinese smartphone brands making a beeline for the country.
"We're confident that about 80-100 million new users will come on board the smartphone market in India. Which is why for us, getting the language piece right is very critical," Micromax's chief marketing officer Shubhajit Sen said, confirming the tie-up.
Micromax's Canvas Unite 3, which was softly launched this month priced Rs 6,999, features Firstouch's local language suite, targeting millions of people using smartphones who aren't comfortable with English.
"The Unite 3 is a very strategic model for us where we're going a step ahead with translation and transliteration. We're going to work with them across all our phones for the language support, going forward," Sen added.
The App Bazaar features some of the most used apps such as Skype and Clean Master and several others in 10 local languages, including Tamil and Marathi, which effectively cover 800 million people in the country, said Rakesh Deshmukh, chief executive and co-founder of Mumbai-based MoFirst Solutions Ltd, the company behind Firstouch.
The company has established publishing linkages with Microsoft, Gameloft, EA Games, Disney, Zapak and Sony Music, among others, and is working with app developers to increase the number of apps in local languages on the App Bazaar.
Micromax will begin a 360-degree advertising campaign to promote the device within this month, and has already put it up for recce on its website. The device is available on ecommerce websites Snapdeal and Flipkart between Rs 6,700 and Rs 7,100.
The home-bred handset maker had a 15.3% share of the smartphone market at the end of March, as per Counterpoint Research, a sharp decline from 19.5% in the previous quarter.
Analysts say the company will have to market the device and its latest offerings, for instance, the local language app store, to consumers even more aggressively.
"Micromax will focus deeper into the tier-2 and -3 markets with this device, which I feel is much more user friendly. It can be their next best seller, just like Unite 2, but in a much better avatar," said Tarun Pathak, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research. "They will have to promote the technology on the device, which is the USP," he added.
MoFirst, which abandoned its own move to sell smartphones, is now working with an approach of making smartphone vendors partners rather than competing with them, in such a competitive market.
Chinese smartphone makers such as Xiaomi, Huawei, ZTE, Gionee and the latest Meizu are offering high-end devices at very competitive prices, adding to the competition from local vendors such as Lava, Intex and Karbonn.
"Our plan is get to 100 million customers within the next three years, which would not be possible if we would sell devices ourselves," Deshmukh added.
The company which sold 3,000 Firstouch smartphones in Gujarat last year is looking to licence out its patented technology to more handset makers which will help it create a revenue generation model. "We're also developing Urdu and Assamese language capability on the OS, " Deshmukh added.
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