Saturday, June 21, 2008
Lean and mean, but how green?
Next-generation PCs promise to be energy-efficient and eco-friendly. But are they going far enough? Anand Parthasarathy checks out how leading computer players are ‘greening’ IT.
In the mid 1980s, the Government of India asked what was then Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC) to come up with a technology solution for the Family Planning programme of the Ministry of Health. The problem? Family Planning volunteers were being provided Apple Macintosh laptops in some experimental areas, the machines loaded with audio visual instructional programmes on birth control techniques that were used to motivate women in the villages.
Unfortunately many of the villages lacked electricity — and the female volunteers found that their laptop batteries ran out before they could complete their day’s schedule. CMC came up with a neat solution. It found, in Australia, a supplier who manufactured photo voltaic solar panels in a flexible form, like a roll of cloth. CMC engineers used this material to create solar ‘thailas’ or shoulder bags in which to carry the laptop. As the volunteers walked from one meeting to the next, the bag recharged the laptop. It was an eco-friendly idea that harnessed non conventional energy in a meaningful way — but once the government’s pilot project ended, the idea was forgotten; it died prematurely, due to lack of official vision and support from government.
Today, in a new era where energy, or the lack of it, looms as a major global concern, the solar-operated laptop battery seems like an idea whose time has come. Then why is not a single mainstream laptop maker offering this eco-friendly option? CMC is now a Tata company. Maybe old-timers still serving with them should remind their current leaders about the green alternative that they once innovated. Maybe they could dust off the old project files and see if flexible solar panels can still be sourced — and CMC could re-invent the technology for a new generation of PC users.
A rapid search on the Web showed that Solar PCs — computers running solely on solar power — are largely ‘bespoke’ or custom-made items, offered by small outfits rather than major brand names. Based in London, UK, Aleutia Ltd ( www.aleutia.com) seems to specialise in sourcing such offbeat products.
The challenge in a solar-only PC is to keep the power requirement down to levels that can run on the fairly low trickle charge that typically flows from a solar photo voltaic panel. Aleutia’s E2 all-in-one has the power requirement down to 23 watts… enough to power the PC running Ubuntu Linux and a 15-inch LCD monitor.
The Prince of Wales Secondary School on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone, lies, ironically, in the shadow of a large power distribution yard — but it has no electric power. Old students of the school based in the US have banded to turn the POW into a solar powered school, using some 30 solar panels to generate the 5 or 6 kilowatts required to power every PC and laptop as well as the satellite-based broadband Internet connection. IDG News reports that it is going to cost about $70,000 and major contracts have already been awarded. In other ways too, Africa has shown the way in harnessing green sources to drive its IT penetration, while in India there is little apparent cooperation between the central departments of Information Technology and non-conventional energy.
One way, albeit indirect, to attack the energy challenge is to drastically reduce the power required by PCs and peripherals. Intel’s recently launched Atom processor promises to do just that … a sharp departure from the days when leading chip makers flaunted processor clock speed and number crunching capability, while the power requirement crossed 150 watts and made such technologies ‘too hot to handle’. In addition to being frugal with power requirements — its 47 million transistors draw just 600 milliwatts of power, that is just over half a watt — the Atom is both lead and halogen-free. But it has enough muscle to power hand- held Internet access devices with basic PC functionality.
At the recently concluded Computex Taipei expo, a number of device makers, including Benq, Gigabyte, Panasonic, Sharp and Fujitsu, showcased Mobile Internet Devices or MIDS fuelled by the Atom. HCL, Zenith and Wipro, the Indian PC makers, have also announced Atom-based products for the local market. HCL, which makes the MiLeap ultra mobile PC to Intel’s Classmate PC design, will change the Celeron chip to an Atom in future editions.
Dell, a PC maker more known for its innovative direct marketing and aggressive pricing rather than design innovation, has made up for lost time in recent months and assumed leadership position in ‘greening’ its operations and offerings.
Putting its money where its mouth is, Dell has powered its main 2-lakh sq.m corporate office in Austin, Texas, totally from renewable sources of energy and challenged the entire IT industry, to offer free recycling of its products to all customers. It has created a Web site to encourage green awareness. ( http://www.regeneration.org/)
On World Environment Day this year, Dell previewed a soon-to-be launched ultra small consumer desktop, as yet un-named, that will be 81 per cent smaller in footprint and consume 70 per cent less energy than desktop machines of comparable performance.
When he unveiled a prototype at a Fortune magazine Green conference in Los Angeles, the Dell CEO, Michael Dell, also showed a variant that came with a bamboo casing. Though the Bamboo PC, as the media quickly dubbed it, is not being officially acknowledged, photos grabbed at the conference have appeared on ‘green’ Web sites such as earth2tech. Bamboo is being ‘discovered’ as an eco-friendly, light, strong and flexible alternative to metal housings — and not just for PCs. The West Drayton, Middlesex (UK)-based PlayEngine offers monitor, keyboard and mouse all housed in ‘environmentally friendly" laminated bamboo.
The new Energy Star 5.0 requirement currently in draft from the US government, and due to be mandated from June 2009, is a key piece of legislation that is driving the PC industry to achieve better power performance.
A PDF copy can be found at http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/prod_development/revisions/downloads/computer/Computer_Spec_Version5_%20Draft1.pdf
Major PC makers including HP have said they will cut the power demand of their desktop and portable PCs by at least 25 per cent by 2010.
This may become easier to achieve because Intel is not alone in offering a low power processing option: AMD, Samsung, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and, most recently, nVidia, have announced power-efficient versions of their flagship chips.
Yet it would appear that the industry has still a long way to go and has insufficient appreciation that greening has to go beyond shrinking the size and power budget of their devices and must go outside the covers of their products … to encompass alternative energy sources such as the sun or the wind.
And what about water?
Recently, IBM researchers joined the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin to deliver the first working prototype of a water-cooled supercomputer…. not pipes of cold water running around the installation, but within each chip!
Tiny rivulets as thin as a strand of hair will run behind tomorrow’s silicon chip and between the multiple layers, drawing the heat away from the hottest portions.
A water-cooled supercomputer, with 448 processors, nicknamed a Hydro Cluster, was realised a few weeks ago and it reduced the conventional air-conditioning load by 80 per cent.
(For details, see http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/23826.wss)Water inside, the wind and the sun outside….
Tomorrow’s PCs might turn out to be as earthy in their power requirement as the sand that goes to create the silicon within.
Related Stories:Wipro launches Eco Eye initiativeSun Micro driving Green movement
More Stories on : Hardware Environment Insight Non-conventional Energy
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
In the mid 1980s, the Government of India asked what was then Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC) to come up with a technology solution for the Family Planning programme of the Ministry of Health. The problem? Family Planning volunteers were being provided Apple Macintosh laptops in some experimental areas, the machines loaded with audio visual instructional programmes on birth control techniques that were used to motivate women in the villages.
Unfortunately many of the villages lacked electricity — and the female volunteers found that their laptop batteries ran out before they could complete their day’s schedule. CMC came up with a neat solution. It found, in Australia, a supplier who manufactured photo voltaic solar panels in a flexible form, like a roll of cloth. CMC engineers used this material to create solar ‘thailas’ or shoulder bags in which to carry the laptop. As the volunteers walked from one meeting to the next, the bag recharged the laptop. It was an eco-friendly idea that harnessed non conventional energy in a meaningful way — but once the government’s pilot project ended, the idea was forgotten; it died prematurely, due to lack of official vision and support from government.
Today, in a new era where energy, or the lack of it, looms as a major global concern, the solar-operated laptop battery seems like an idea whose time has come. Then why is not a single mainstream laptop maker offering this eco-friendly option? CMC is now a Tata company. Maybe old-timers still serving with them should remind their current leaders about the green alternative that they once innovated. Maybe they could dust off the old project files and see if flexible solar panels can still be sourced — and CMC could re-invent the technology for a new generation of PC users.
A rapid search on the Web showed that Solar PCs — computers running solely on solar power — are largely ‘bespoke’ or custom-made items, offered by small outfits rather than major brand names. Based in London, UK, Aleutia Ltd ( www.aleutia.com) seems to specialise in sourcing such offbeat products.
The challenge in a solar-only PC is to keep the power requirement down to levels that can run on the fairly low trickle charge that typically flows from a solar photo voltaic panel. Aleutia’s E2 all-in-one has the power requirement down to 23 watts… enough to power the PC running Ubuntu Linux and a 15-inch LCD monitor.
The Prince of Wales Secondary School on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone, lies, ironically, in the shadow of a large power distribution yard — but it has no electric power. Old students of the school based in the US have banded to turn the POW into a solar powered school, using some 30 solar panels to generate the 5 or 6 kilowatts required to power every PC and laptop as well as the satellite-based broadband Internet connection. IDG News reports that it is going to cost about $70,000 and major contracts have already been awarded. In other ways too, Africa has shown the way in harnessing green sources to drive its IT penetration, while in India there is little apparent cooperation between the central departments of Information Technology and non-conventional energy.
One way, albeit indirect, to attack the energy challenge is to drastically reduce the power required by PCs and peripherals. Intel’s recently launched Atom processor promises to do just that … a sharp departure from the days when leading chip makers flaunted processor clock speed and number crunching capability, while the power requirement crossed 150 watts and made such technologies ‘too hot to handle’. In addition to being frugal with power requirements — its 47 million transistors draw just 600 milliwatts of power, that is just over half a watt — the Atom is both lead and halogen-free. But it has enough muscle to power hand- held Internet access devices with basic PC functionality.
At the recently concluded Computex Taipei expo, a number of device makers, including Benq, Gigabyte, Panasonic, Sharp and Fujitsu, showcased Mobile Internet Devices or MIDS fuelled by the Atom. HCL, Zenith and Wipro, the Indian PC makers, have also announced Atom-based products for the local market. HCL, which makes the MiLeap ultra mobile PC to Intel’s Classmate PC design, will change the Celeron chip to an Atom in future editions.
Dell, a PC maker more known for its innovative direct marketing and aggressive pricing rather than design innovation, has made up for lost time in recent months and assumed leadership position in ‘greening’ its operations and offerings.
Putting its money where its mouth is, Dell has powered its main 2-lakh sq.m corporate office in Austin, Texas, totally from renewable sources of energy and challenged the entire IT industry, to offer free recycling of its products to all customers. It has created a Web site to encourage green awareness. ( http://www.regeneration.org/)
On World Environment Day this year, Dell previewed a soon-to-be launched ultra small consumer desktop, as yet un-named, that will be 81 per cent smaller in footprint and consume 70 per cent less energy than desktop machines of comparable performance.
When he unveiled a prototype at a Fortune magazine Green conference in Los Angeles, the Dell CEO, Michael Dell, also showed a variant that came with a bamboo casing. Though the Bamboo PC, as the media quickly dubbed it, is not being officially acknowledged, photos grabbed at the conference have appeared on ‘green’ Web sites such as earth2tech. Bamboo is being ‘discovered’ as an eco-friendly, light, strong and flexible alternative to metal housings — and not just for PCs. The West Drayton, Middlesex (UK)-based PlayEngine offers monitor, keyboard and mouse all housed in ‘environmentally friendly" laminated bamboo.
The new Energy Star 5.0 requirement currently in draft from the US government, and due to be mandated from June 2009, is a key piece of legislation that is driving the PC industry to achieve better power performance.
A PDF copy can be found at http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/prod_development/revisions/downloads/computer/Computer_Spec_Version5_%20Draft1.pdf
Major PC makers including HP have said they will cut the power demand of their desktop and portable PCs by at least 25 per cent by 2010.
This may become easier to achieve because Intel is not alone in offering a low power processing option: AMD, Samsung, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and, most recently, nVidia, have announced power-efficient versions of their flagship chips.
Yet it would appear that the industry has still a long way to go and has insufficient appreciation that greening has to go beyond shrinking the size and power budget of their devices and must go outside the covers of their products … to encompass alternative energy sources such as the sun or the wind.
And what about water?
Recently, IBM researchers joined the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin to deliver the first working prototype of a water-cooled supercomputer…. not pipes of cold water running around the installation, but within each chip!
Tiny rivulets as thin as a strand of hair will run behind tomorrow’s silicon chip and between the multiple layers, drawing the heat away from the hottest portions.
A water-cooled supercomputer, with 448 processors, nicknamed a Hydro Cluster, was realised a few weeks ago and it reduced the conventional air-conditioning load by 80 per cent.
(For details, see http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/23826.wss)Water inside, the wind and the sun outside….
Tomorrow’s PCs might turn out to be as earthy in their power requirement as the sand that goes to create the silicon within.
Related Stories:Wipro launches Eco Eye initiativeSun Micro driving Green movement
More Stories on : Hardware Environment Insight Non-conventional Energy
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
BGR Energy Systems: Buy
Investors with a three-year perspective can consider investing in the stock of BGR Energy Systems.
The recent results posted by the company and the strong growth in order book belie fears of a slow down in the engineering services space. BGR’s well entrenched position as an EPC player in the power segment and a multi-equipment supplier in the oil and gas segment makes it a good proxy for the energy sector.
The current market price, at a sharp discount to its offer price of Rs 480, provides an attractive entry point. The stock currently trades at about 13 times its expected per share earnings for FY 2010.
BGR has an order backlog of Rs 3,212 crore and secured 46 per cent more orders than the previous year. This order growth inspires confidence at a time when some companies in the engineering sector have reported slowdown in the growth of order intake. Order inflows are key indicators of any slowdown in the sectors serviced by engineering companies. BGR’s strong order intake is indicative of capex spending in the power and oil and gas space.
Of the total order book, power EPC and balance of plant (BOP) segment account for 85 per cent. BOP involves other works in a power plant excluding the key equipments boiler-turbine-generator (BTG). BGR has managed to stay competitive in this segment as it manufactures in-house 40-50 per cent of the products needed to execute a BOP.
The company has recently stated that it would soon announce its entry into the BTG segment as well, through foreign tie-ups. This segment, currently dominated by a few players such as BHEL, would enable forward integration. If successful in this planned foray, BGR could be among the few integrated solutions provider for power plants.
Therefore while the company would continue to receive orders in the oil and gas space, we expect the power segment to be the key contributor to revenues over the next few years.
BGR Energy’s sales for the year ended March 2008 grew by 190 per cent to Rs 1,521 crore, while net profits registered a 223 per cent jump. Operating profit margins, however, declined 100 basis points to 10.2 per cent. The company has written off some losses from its Kochi road project, although the same is still under arbitration. We believe that this one-time write-off could be the reason for the dent. On the raw material front, while bulk buying of steel and price escalation clauses could provide some relief, any further hike in cement prices could pose a risk to margins.
Vidya Bala
Related Stories:BGR Energy’s net doubles to Rs 84 crTN power panel okays BGR’s Rs 6,000-cr thermal projectOrder wins may help BGR Energy in EPC
More Stories on : Power Stocks Recommendation
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndicati
The recent results posted by the company and the strong growth in order book belie fears of a slow down in the engineering services space. BGR’s well entrenched position as an EPC player in the power segment and a multi-equipment supplier in the oil and gas segment makes it a good proxy for the energy sector.
The current market price, at a sharp discount to its offer price of Rs 480, provides an attractive entry point. The stock currently trades at about 13 times its expected per share earnings for FY 2010.
BGR has an order backlog of Rs 3,212 crore and secured 46 per cent more orders than the previous year. This order growth inspires confidence at a time when some companies in the engineering sector have reported slowdown in the growth of order intake. Order inflows are key indicators of any slowdown in the sectors serviced by engineering companies. BGR’s strong order intake is indicative of capex spending in the power and oil and gas space.
Of the total order book, power EPC and balance of plant (BOP) segment account for 85 per cent. BOP involves other works in a power plant excluding the key equipments boiler-turbine-generator (BTG). BGR has managed to stay competitive in this segment as it manufactures in-house 40-50 per cent of the products needed to execute a BOP.
The company has recently stated that it would soon announce its entry into the BTG segment as well, through foreign tie-ups. This segment, currently dominated by a few players such as BHEL, would enable forward integration. If successful in this planned foray, BGR could be among the few integrated solutions provider for power plants.
Therefore while the company would continue to receive orders in the oil and gas space, we expect the power segment to be the key contributor to revenues over the next few years.
BGR Energy’s sales for the year ended March 2008 grew by 190 per cent to Rs 1,521 crore, while net profits registered a 223 per cent jump. Operating profit margins, however, declined 100 basis points to 10.2 per cent. The company has written off some losses from its Kochi road project, although the same is still under arbitration. We believe that this one-time write-off could be the reason for the dent. On the raw material front, while bulk buying of steel and price escalation clauses could provide some relief, any further hike in cement prices could pose a risk to margins.
Vidya Bala
Related Stories:BGR Energy’s net doubles to Rs 84 crTN power panel okays BGR’s Rs 6,000-cr thermal projectOrder wins may help BGR Energy in EPC
More Stories on : Power Stocks Recommendation
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndicati
Nokia targets youth with N78 mobile
Chennai, June 4 Nokia has launched its ‘N78’ mobile phone, a multimedia device that fuses music, navigation, photography and mobility. The product is targeted at the youth and the ‘tech savvy’, “who are always on the Internet”.
With low personal computer penetration (31 million PCs) and low broadband level, the Rs 19,990 Nokia N78 phone acts as a convergence device. “We are looking at the next generation of Internet that has evolved towards social networking or Web2.0 where people can participate and share their experiences through communities such as Facebook and Flickr,” Mr Vineet Taneja, Head of Go to Market, Nokia India Pvt Ltd.
Over a fifth of India’s 260 million-plus mobile subscribers use their mobile phones to log into their favourite Websites to have access to mobility. This makes mobile phones the single largest consumer durable in the country, he told newspersons.
“We are moving towards ‘context aware Internet’, where people need to know what is available in a place they visit,” he said. For example, if a person with N78 is visiting the Spencer’s Plaza, information on various stalls should automatically be fed into the device. This makes it easy for the user to go to the right shop, he said.
Nokia will use the Internet as a key medium to market the N78 devices among the youth. This will be in addition to the retail network, he said without disclosing any projection on the unit sales.
An interesting feature of the N78 is the ‘location tagger’ application, which automatically tags location data to the picture, allowing users to save picture by date and by geographical coordinates.
The slimmest of N-series devices with a 2.4 inch screen, the Nokia N78 comes with high speed connectivity with wireless local area network and a 3.5G High-Speed Downlink Packet Access, a 3G mobile telephony communication protocol. Enabled with global position system, the phone also has a 3.2 mega pixel camera pre-loaded with Nokia maps of eight cities with points of interest across 52 categories, including bars, cafes, restaurants and hotels.
The Indian market for GPS-enabled device is now at $22 million, with potential to reach $448 million in three to four years, a Nokia press release says.
More Stories on : Telecommunications Strategy
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
With low personal computer penetration (31 million PCs) and low broadband level, the Rs 19,990 Nokia N78 phone acts as a convergence device. “We are looking at the next generation of Internet that has evolved towards social networking or Web2.0 where people can participate and share their experiences through communities such as Facebook and Flickr,” Mr Vineet Taneja, Head of Go to Market, Nokia India Pvt Ltd.
Over a fifth of India’s 260 million-plus mobile subscribers use their mobile phones to log into their favourite Websites to have access to mobility. This makes mobile phones the single largest consumer durable in the country, he told newspersons.
“We are moving towards ‘context aware Internet’, where people need to know what is available in a place they visit,” he said. For example, if a person with N78 is visiting the Spencer’s Plaza, information on various stalls should automatically be fed into the device. This makes it easy for the user to go to the right shop, he said.
Nokia will use the Internet as a key medium to market the N78 devices among the youth. This will be in addition to the retail network, he said without disclosing any projection on the unit sales.
An interesting feature of the N78 is the ‘location tagger’ application, which automatically tags location data to the picture, allowing users to save picture by date and by geographical coordinates.
The slimmest of N-series devices with a 2.4 inch screen, the Nokia N78 comes with high speed connectivity with wireless local area network and a 3.5G High-Speed Downlink Packet Access, a 3G mobile telephony communication protocol. Enabled with global position system, the phone also has a 3.2 mega pixel camera pre-loaded with Nokia maps of eight cities with points of interest across 52 categories, including bars, cafes, restaurants and hotels.
The Indian market for GPS-enabled device is now at $22 million, with potential to reach $448 million in three to four years, a Nokia press release says.
More Stories on : Telecommunications Strategy
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
SELLING THE CELL
Makers and retailers of mobile phones are faced with the challenge of selling them as both necessity and fashion accessory.
With changing lifestyles, new trends have been emerging in the way mobiles are being constructed. Going by the fact that technology needs to be ahead of consumer wants and not follow them, top mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung and Mo torola are constantly innovating and leading this change, rather than reacting to it. The consumer is spoilt for choice today. With constant innovation, the cell phone user is being exposed to newer things to do and experience. It’s no longer the ‘luxury’ we used to think of it as ... it’s now an integral part of lives.
With all this, selling the right handset to the right hand has become a challenging task. Mobile manufacturers and retailers are trying in ways more than one to provide the best buying experience to the consumer, while also helping them identify a handset that would reflect their personality.
Marketing for mobile phones is quite different from that of other gadgets. “Mobile as a category is linked with the projection of ‘who you are’ and is seen as a style statement or an extension of your personality,” says Sunil Dutt, Country Head, Samsung Telecommunications India. Thus, selling the product and the brand behind the product has to be unique and compelling.
“No other technology has created such a large social change as the mobile phone,” says Subhash Kamath, Group CEO, Bates 141. Earlier, marketing theory compelled advertisers to look at brands as either premium or low-cost, primarily on the basis of their price points, but mobile phones have broken that paradigm by playing at radically different price points, and yet driving aspiration at every level. “Nokia, for example, is available between Rs 3,000 and Rs 35,000. So is it a premium brand or a popular brand? It’s neither! It’s an aspirational brand, regardless of its price,” says Kamath.
The marketing strategy for mobiles has to take into account the fact that the market is changing very rapidly and that new products are being continuously introduced.
For instance, Samsung Mobiles strategy is called ‘Next is what’ for all its gadgets. It expresses Samsung’s philosophy to help the consumer evolve to the next level in mobility and technology. “We want to redefine the consumer interaction with the mobile phone – beyond mere communication, we want to be an enabler that will allow him/her to experience the mobile phone as an instrument to learn, grow and enjoy,” says Samsung’s Dutt.
Marketing for cell phones is mostly about the brand, but through the product/ model route. Each model that is launched fulfils a different consumer need, whether it is connectivity, entertainment, business solutions or gaming. But it all adds to the mother brand’s image of innovation and consumer understanding. This is why advertisers constantly need to innovate and create new needs. It keeps the brand exciting in the consumers’ hearts.
Samsung, in fact, promotes different models in different ways. “The core or the essence of Samsung’s mobile strategy is the innovation that is reflected in the overall approach. However, the expression of this strategy is slightly altered for different models,” adds Dutt. For example, Samsung has branded its entry-level mobile handsets as ‘Guru’ series linked with the fact that the phone offers some very differentiated yet relevant features such as unrestricted talk time of nine hours and a mobile tracker facility, at an affordable price point.
Motorola has a totally different take on this. Lloyd Mathias, Director (Marketing - India & South-West Asia), Motorola, says selling the handset in today’s developed markets has become very much like selling an FMCG product, as the mobile handset has become an integral part of our lives. It is moving from the image of a technology product to a consumer product. “At Motorola, we adopt a 360-degree selling approach to effectively market each of our hero products, while constantly communicating our core brand message,” he adds. Apart from this, they also have exclusive experience outlets with well trained Moto agents to assist the consumer in decision-making.
Nokia, on the other hand, banks on experiential marketing. Nokia offers an end-to-end portfolio and hence creates campaigns specific to target consumers. Late last year it renewed its brand values to reflect its business and changing environment.
Apart from drafting unique strategies for its hero products, most of Nokia’s marketing spend is allocated towards retail. Taking pride in the one lakh retail outlets in India, Devinder Kishore, Director -Marketing, Nokia India, says that “while the mobile subscriber base is rapidly growing, the market dynamics are changing too. We are continuously aligning our retail strategy towards that direction.”
Apart from this, Nokia has nine Nokia Concept Stores (NCS) in key metros. The company began investing in setting up this network much before other players. In a diverse market like India where there are first time buyers looking for purely ‘functional’ devices as well as seasoned mobile users looking for a ‘heightened sense’ of mobility, the needs and aspirations of consumers are different. Kishore adds that companies such as Nokia need to seek a differentiated view of the market so that they are able to offer the ‘right’ mix of products, services and importantly, the ‘right’ experience to consumers. “To achieve this, Nokia has invested much ahead of time and has taken a lead in addressing the entire spectrum of consumers through Nokia Concept Stores and Nokia Priority Dealers.”
But for HTC’s data-centric handsets, it is a totally different business altogether. Unlike Apple or BlackBerry, HTC is not positioned as a business phone/ smart phone. Since its inception, HTC has pioneered the smart phone market through partnerships with Microsoft and key mobile operators, including Orange, 02, T-Mobile, Vodafone and Sprint.
HTC as a brand has pitched itself as something for everyone. Today, HTC is one of the fastest-growing companies in the mobile sector. Well known for its innovation, it is constantly expanding the range of devices it offers – introducing gadgets to support specific applications and new form factors that meet the diverse needs of its customers and partners.
Its promotional strategy is done in two ways, based on the product differentiation, i.e., open channel and closed channel. Adding that its marketing mix is redefined based on its hero product, Ajay Sharma - Country Manager, HTC India says, “We partner with Microsoft when it comes to promotion through press and Airtel is our outdoor partner.” Apart from advertising, HTC also optimises on a few below-the-line activities for a 360-degree marketing approach.
However, selling business phones, or smart phones as they are called, is quite different as the gizmos cater to niche consumers who expect their mobiles to be more than just communication devices without compromising on the look, comfort, simplicity and usability of a standard mobile phone. Nokia E Series devices, for instance, are designed to offer enterprise features and functionalities and are ‘one-stop solution’ devices. “As the target consumers for the Achieve category (business handsets) comprise corporate users/professionals/entrepreneurs, the advertising campaign has a very business-like look and feel and the media used is the one that has higher viewership among the target consumers,” adds Nokia’s Kishore.
If marketing is all about fulfilling needs, then mobile phone marketing is changing almost every few months. And the winners will be those who have better insights into consumers’ lives.
With changing lifestyles, new trends have been emerging in the way mobiles are being constructed. Going by the fact that technology needs to be ahead of consumer wants and not follow them, top mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung and Mo torola are constantly innovating and leading this change, rather than reacting to it. The consumer is spoilt for choice today. With constant innovation, the cell phone user is being exposed to newer things to do and experience. It’s no longer the ‘luxury’ we used to think of it as ... it’s now an integral part of lives.
With all this, selling the right handset to the right hand has become a challenging task. Mobile manufacturers and retailers are trying in ways more than one to provide the best buying experience to the consumer, while also helping them identify a handset that would reflect their personality.
Marketing for mobile phones is quite different from that of other gadgets. “Mobile as a category is linked with the projection of ‘who you are’ and is seen as a style statement or an extension of your personality,” says Sunil Dutt, Country Head, Samsung Telecommunications India. Thus, selling the product and the brand behind the product has to be unique and compelling.
“No other technology has created such a large social change as the mobile phone,” says Subhash Kamath, Group CEO, Bates 141. Earlier, marketing theory compelled advertisers to look at brands as either premium or low-cost, primarily on the basis of their price points, but mobile phones have broken that paradigm by playing at radically different price points, and yet driving aspiration at every level. “Nokia, for example, is available between Rs 3,000 and Rs 35,000. So is it a premium brand or a popular brand? It’s neither! It’s an aspirational brand, regardless of its price,” says Kamath.
The marketing strategy for mobiles has to take into account the fact that the market is changing very rapidly and that new products are being continuously introduced.
For instance, Samsung Mobiles strategy is called ‘Next is what’ for all its gadgets. It expresses Samsung’s philosophy to help the consumer evolve to the next level in mobility and technology. “We want to redefine the consumer interaction with the mobile phone – beyond mere communication, we want to be an enabler that will allow him/her to experience the mobile phone as an instrument to learn, grow and enjoy,” says Samsung’s Dutt.
Marketing for cell phones is mostly about the brand, but through the product/ model route. Each model that is launched fulfils a different consumer need, whether it is connectivity, entertainment, business solutions or gaming. But it all adds to the mother brand’s image of innovation and consumer understanding. This is why advertisers constantly need to innovate and create new needs. It keeps the brand exciting in the consumers’ hearts.
Samsung, in fact, promotes different models in different ways. “The core or the essence of Samsung’s mobile strategy is the innovation that is reflected in the overall approach. However, the expression of this strategy is slightly altered for different models,” adds Dutt. For example, Samsung has branded its entry-level mobile handsets as ‘Guru’ series linked with the fact that the phone offers some very differentiated yet relevant features such as unrestricted talk time of nine hours and a mobile tracker facility, at an affordable price point.
Motorola has a totally different take on this. Lloyd Mathias, Director (Marketing - India & South-West Asia), Motorola, says selling the handset in today’s developed markets has become very much like selling an FMCG product, as the mobile handset has become an integral part of our lives. It is moving from the image of a technology product to a consumer product. “At Motorola, we adopt a 360-degree selling approach to effectively market each of our hero products, while constantly communicating our core brand message,” he adds. Apart from this, they also have exclusive experience outlets with well trained Moto agents to assist the consumer in decision-making.
Nokia, on the other hand, banks on experiential marketing. Nokia offers an end-to-end portfolio and hence creates campaigns specific to target consumers. Late last year it renewed its brand values to reflect its business and changing environment.
Apart from drafting unique strategies for its hero products, most of Nokia’s marketing spend is allocated towards retail. Taking pride in the one lakh retail outlets in India, Devinder Kishore, Director -Marketing, Nokia India, says that “while the mobile subscriber base is rapidly growing, the market dynamics are changing too. We are continuously aligning our retail strategy towards that direction.”
Apart from this, Nokia has nine Nokia Concept Stores (NCS) in key metros. The company began investing in setting up this network much before other players. In a diverse market like India where there are first time buyers looking for purely ‘functional’ devices as well as seasoned mobile users looking for a ‘heightened sense’ of mobility, the needs and aspirations of consumers are different. Kishore adds that companies such as Nokia need to seek a differentiated view of the market so that they are able to offer the ‘right’ mix of products, services and importantly, the ‘right’ experience to consumers. “To achieve this, Nokia has invested much ahead of time and has taken a lead in addressing the entire spectrum of consumers through Nokia Concept Stores and Nokia Priority Dealers.”
But for HTC’s data-centric handsets, it is a totally different business altogether. Unlike Apple or BlackBerry, HTC is not positioned as a business phone/ smart phone. Since its inception, HTC has pioneered the smart phone market through partnerships with Microsoft and key mobile operators, including Orange, 02, T-Mobile, Vodafone and Sprint.
HTC as a brand has pitched itself as something for everyone. Today, HTC is one of the fastest-growing companies in the mobile sector. Well known for its innovation, it is constantly expanding the range of devices it offers – introducing gadgets to support specific applications and new form factors that meet the diverse needs of its customers and partners.
Its promotional strategy is done in two ways, based on the product differentiation, i.e., open channel and closed channel. Adding that its marketing mix is redefined based on its hero product, Ajay Sharma - Country Manager, HTC India says, “We partner with Microsoft when it comes to promotion through press and Airtel is our outdoor partner.” Apart from advertising, HTC also optimises on a few below-the-line activities for a 360-degree marketing approach.
However, selling business phones, or smart phones as they are called, is quite different as the gizmos cater to niche consumers who expect their mobiles to be more than just communication devices without compromising on the look, comfort, simplicity and usability of a standard mobile phone. Nokia E Series devices, for instance, are designed to offer enterprise features and functionalities and are ‘one-stop solution’ devices. “As the target consumers for the Achieve category (business handsets) comprise corporate users/professionals/entrepreneurs, the advertising campaign has a very business-like look and feel and the media used is the one that has higher viewership among the target consumers,” adds Nokia’s Kishore.
If marketing is all about fulfilling needs, then mobile phone marketing is changing almost every few months. And the winners will be those who have better insights into consumers’ lives.
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