After success of its 2007 founded charitable venture Being Human, Salman Khan has now decided to enter into ‘small screen’ segment by releasing its own series of smartphones.
The famous Bollywood actor was already thinking to work on the idea for the past few years, but eventually backed out due to high royalty charges he demanded.
The project which is dubbed as “BeingSmart”, will have an operational management team to be headed by a professional with leadership stints at Samsung and Micromax, as mentioned on ET.
The new company is said to target the entry-to-middle market segment of smartphones.
Salman is luring a set of investors for his smartphone venture and has already selected Chinese plant and initial phone models that will run on Android. For now, the phones are said to cost below Rs 20,000.
“BeingSmart will be positioned against the Chinese smartphone brigade — Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi — at a time domestic handset makers such as Micromax and Intex are facing tremendous competition,” said one of the two top industry executives to ET.
“And, like the Being Human apparel line, proceeds from the profit will be ploughed back into charity and social work that Salman Khan does with his Being Human Foundation,” the executive added.
The smartphones will be initially sold online and later through strategic partnerships with mobile and electronic retail chains. The handsets might also be available through Being Human stores.
For now there is no confirmation about the launch date but it is said that the devices will hit the market in the two-quartersrters.
“He expects to launch the devices in the next two quarters and definitely before the festive season,” the other executive said.
‘BeingSmart’ phones
Lately, the smartphone market has been volatile for many reasons like demonetization, faulty batteries and marginal increase in cost (post-budget 2017).
The project “BeingSmart” is innovative for many reasons especially as it will be the first smartphone company that will be ‘owned’ by a Bollywood actor.
The said reason would definitely provide a boost in terms of sales due to the actor’s fan following, but smartphones would still have to go through a stiff competition.
Chinese handset manufacturers like Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi are already providing a range of new smartphones which have already captivated the market. Launching new smartphones would require a total shift in strategy to create a new market of its own.
For now, there is no information regarding the upcoming handsets specifications.
Other ventures and Being Human expansion
Salman Khan and Alvira (his sister) are closely engaged with Being human and its product offerings. The Bajrangi Bhaijaan star has also debuted his first mountain bicycle from the Being Human collection yesterday.
It is also speculated that Salman Khan will soon start off his debut live international connect, DA BANG– The Tour in April 2017. The tour will feature stars like Sonakshi Sinha, Bipasha Basu, Badshah, Prabhu Dheva, Maniesh Paul and Daisy Shah, and will happen in New Zealand or Australia.