@ksh@T 20 Report post Posted February 27, 2008 KOLKATA: Let's bring on the music. That seems to be the mantra of mobile phone manufacturers as companies like Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung bank on music phones to drive growth. The idea is to build consumer franchisee before Apple's much-hyped 'iPhone' hits the Indian market. The vendors expect to consolidate their marketshare in India with next-generation music-enabled handsets and innovative marketing activities. These include launching 'music editions' for popular handsets, pre-loaded exclusive songs, music-oriented features and setting up music kiosks. Latest research data, provided by Sony Ericsson, suggests over 76% of mobile users prefer listening to music on their cellphones, making it the most popular choice. Last fiscal, about 10 million music phones were sold in India and the numbers are expected to reach 24 million by 2007. This segment accounts for about 20% of the total handset sales in India. Cellular Operators Association of India has projected the size of the mobile music industry will rise to $250 million by year-end from the present $170 million. "Between January-March 2007, mobile music purchase was higher than conventional music purchase. Hence, we want to punch all features available in a music player into a Nokia phone," said Nokia India director (marketing) Devinder Kishore. After dedicated music keys, Nokia intends to roll out more 'music editions' for some of its top-selling models. It has already done so for models like N91, N73 and N70. The company has also entered into an alliance with Philips Electronics India to set up music kiosks in Nokia Priority stores. "Philips is sourcing the music and providing the back-end support for these kiosks. Consumers will be able to buy songs from these kiosks for their Nokia handsets. This initiative is currently in a pilot stage in Bangalore and will be expanded across the nation," Mr Kishore added. Motorola, on the other hand, has tied up with Sony BMG to bundle the complete sound track of 'Life in a Metro' in its latest MOTOSLVR L9 model. It is exploring the possibility of other such exclusive content for upcoming models as well. "Our global research points out that consumers look for quality sound, adequate storage capacity, external music button, wireless music and easy computer synchronisation in their music handsets," said Motorola India director (marketing - mobile devices) Lloyd Mathias. Music phone handsets are also becoming snazzier. "Dedicated keys for music playback will now be replaced with something more convenient, like ability to play music that suits the user's mood automatically," Sony Ericsson India general manager Sudhin Mathur said. Sony Ericsson is also launching a wide range of music accessories. Samsung, which has a portfolio of seven music phones in India, has plans to launch a few more handsets with full music capability in various forms and designs. The music phones account for nearly 28% of Samung's total handset sales in India. "We see the segment growing much faster than the non-music enabled phones. The next trend will be the sheer capability of the device, in terms of high-tech music capabilities, ability to play and sync up, quality and quantity of music data," Samsung Telecommunications India GM (marketing) Asim Warsi said. Source: The Economic Times Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
