When the world is going after smart phones, Panasonic has decided to re-enter Indian market with budget feature phones; and they have some really big plans related with them.
Panasonic announced yesterday that they are launching two models: EZ240 priced Rs 1790 and EZ180 priced Rs 1350, designed to provide affordable mobile solutions to entry level customers. These are the only budget feature phones which are CE Certified in India.
Some of the interesting features of these budget phones:
- Enhanced battery life with 1200 mAH power
- Hindi support
- 2.4 inch display with 240 * 320 pixels
- 1.3 Mega Pixel camera
- Bluetooth; LED torch; FM Recording
- Dual SIM
- 32 MB RAM and 32 MB Internal Memory
- 16 GB Expandable Memory
- Security features such as tracking enabled
- Secured inbox
- Application Privacy
Such features in a sub-Rs 2000 mobile phone will certainly disrupt the market, as such improved technology and security features are generally not available in mobile phones of this category.
Manish Sharma, Managing Director, Panasonic India, said: “With these new offerings, Panasonic is focusing on expanding beyond the metros and delivering a remarkable mobile experience to the Indian mass consumers in tier II and tier III cities. This launch is a testimony to the company’s focus in reaching out to these markets which are increasingly price-sensitive perfectly matching to our consumers’ needs for affordable solutions.”
This is just the beginning as Panasonic plans to unveil their smart phone series in the month of May, 2014. Going by the reports, the smart phone will be powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and an 5-inch IPS HD display. It will also have a 8-megapixel rear camera.
Last year, Panasonic had decided to exit smartphone market after bleeding $15 billion in losses after meteoric rise of Apple and Samsung brands. In the year 2001, Panasonic was Japan’s second largest handset maker, but in the last 10 years, their shares have dropped considerably. During that time, Panasonic had shared that they will continue to sell Plasma TVs in India.
The launch of these feature phones marks a re-entry of Panasonic into the mobile sector, with hope that people will love the brand. What are your thoughts on the launch of feature phones by Panasonic? Will it dilute their brand presence or enable them to resurface with vengeance?
