New Indian mobile phone manufacturers are causing a shakeup in the local market, with emerging players capturing nearly a third of shipments in Q2.
The 35 companies classed emerging vendors captured nearly twice as much of the market as new players did in Q4 of 2009, when there were 28 companies classified as emerging vendors, IDC said.
The influx of new brands stimulated a spurt in the overall market, which grew by 6.3% to 38.6 million units. Uniquely, over 38% of phones shipped were multi-SIM phones.
Nokia retained the top spot with 36.3% of shipments, with Samsung in second, China's G'Five in third, and Indian vendors Micromax and Spice in fourth and fifth.
But the top handset makers have lost an estimated 11% of their market share to new players, according to Tonse Telecom analyst Sridhar Pai.
In the past two months, Micromax has attracted a $43 million capital infusion, Bharti Airtel launched its own line of 3G phones under its terminal brand Beetel, and Huawei announced it would launch 20 or more phones in India, he said.
New entrants will face tough market conditions – price erosion on mobile phones is as high as 12-15% per year, and shelf life is often measured in weeks instead of months, Pai said.
“[But] India is at an inflexion point in cellular market where a 13 operator, 650 milllion plus subscriber market is about to transition from voice-centric industry to a data-driven business,” and new entrants and established vendors alike are vying to take advantage of this change, he said.
The peculiarities of the Indian market – where mobile social networking is rare but mobile TV and media are growing extremely popular – have also led to a shift in emphasis to devices.
“This nation is hooked on plain simple video-rich mobile television beaming cricket, Bollywood and soaps in that order,” he said. “The 3G / BWA device suddenly appears to have turned king-maker in this wildly interesting market place.”