Taiwanese display maker AOC International will introduce smartphones and tablets in India, possibly before launching them in the global MARKETS
, as the company diversifies into one of the fastest-growing consumer goods categories in the country.
AOC International will bring out two smartphones next month under the AOC brand in the Rs 10,000 price to Rs 4,000 range, Atul Jasra, business head for mobile phones and tablets, told ET. The company is entering the crowded but surging smartphone MARKET in a segment where a majority of the devices are sold in the South Asian nation.
Competition is intensifying in one of the fastest-growing smartphone MARKETS worldwide where more than half a dozen international brands, including Chinese vendors, have entered over the year. Korea’s Samsung dominates the MARKET, ahead of giants such as Apple, Microsoft-Nokia, Sony and LG.
Newer entrants such as Russia’s YotaPhone and Finnish smartphone brand Jolla, both created by former Nokia veterans, are jostling for space with local brands, including Micromax, Karbonn and Lava, which cornered a combined 32% of the smartphone market by volume.
AOC, playing in the entry-level smartphone segment, will offer 21 regional language keyboards integrated in the phone and will tie up with telcos to provide free data packs for three months to download content. Customers will also get free, year-long anti-virus protection.
The company plans to launch a 3G 7-inch calling tablet and a 6-inch phablet in the entry to mid-level price-range.
