Rs 3-lakh Cell Phone To Hit Market By Diwali

[@ksh@T 20]

Luxury brands are making a beeline into the country, but there could be a competition from the hometurf at least in one segment — mobile phone.

A Bangalore-based entity is engaged in designing a new luxury mobile phone, which is tentatively priced at Rs 3 lakh ($7500) for a handset. If things go according to plan, then the launch could happen during Diwali.

Without divulging the name of the company or the people behind it, Sandalwood Partners MD Bob Kondamoori said that there is a sizeable market in India for luxury mobile phones.

The phone will be designed in Bangalore with the manufacturing likely to be done out of Italy. The people behind this firm are professionals who have worked out with marquee brands such as Louis Vuitton and Ritz Carlton.

Sandalwood Partners, an early stage VC firm has invested in this company with an initial capital of $2 million. It plans to invest around $10 million over a period of time. Mr Kondamoori said that luxury mobile phone market in India may see a slow uptake and firm plans to sell around 10,000 units in the first year of operation.

Globally, there are a few luxury mobile phone brands, some which are part of the handset manufacturers, others as standalone entities. Nokia’s luxury division, Vertu, has handsets in the price range of $310,000, which are available in very limited pieces of 8-10.

Others like SonyEricsson, Motorola have handsets priced at $300,000 and $51,800, respectively. Besides, there are other models which are priced in the range of $1,900 to $2,700.

India is also the home to around 150 million mobile users and is one of the fastest growing market globally. It is estimated that this market will cross 500-million users by 2010-11.

Mr Kondamoori said there is a huge appetite for brands in India and felt that there is no competition from upmarket brands in the country.

[Dj 25]

i would wait to see this one...

vertu has always been an object of desire