Sony Ericsson, Motorola cash in on Nokia battery blues
KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Nokia’s battery blues seems to have translated in rich pickings for some of its biggest rivals in the Indian handset turf.
Nokia’s biggest competitors Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung have all reported a jump in their handset sales in August even though they refused to attribute this to the market leader’s battery fiasco that made international headlines a fortnight ago.
According to sources in telecom operators associations, there had been a perceptible downturn in the handset buying sentiment nationally coupled with a decline in average revenue per user (ARPU) levels across mobile operators in August.
But neither GSM industry association Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) nor CDMA firms’ Indian Cellular Association (ICA) is ready to go official on whether this was triggered by Nokia’s battery woes.
Meanwhile, countering reports from West Bengal, UP and Gujarat of exploding batteries, Nokia on Monday said that initial investigations revealed that these were caused by the usage of fake batteries or tampered cell phones.
“We are taking these reports seriously—every single incident is being investigated and in most of the cases where explosion took place, it involve either fake batteries or tampered handsets. We are doing our best to educate our customers about the disadvantages of using counterfeit accessories,” Nokia India managing director D Shivakumar told the media.
Supported by both ICA and COAI, Nokia also said that all cases for battery replacement under the August 14 advisory would be completed within the next 15 days.
At a joint press meeting in New Delhi, ICA president Pankaj Mohindroo also demanded that the government set basic quality standards for all batteries imported to India to protect consumers, while also calling for rationalisation of duties as fake batteries were being imported for as low as Rs 10 (along with a duty of Rs 3) when compared to Rs 100 and a 34% levy for authentic products.
When asked if the battery fiasco had impacted the company’s sales over the last two weeks, Mr Shivakumar said, “Absolutely not. There has been no dip in our sales. We have only emerged stronger as we were able to demonstrate the company’s concern to its customers”.
Sony Ericsson’s national distributor Salora’s managing director G Jivarajka told ET that sales in August had risen by nearly 20% compared to July levels, but added that the growth was due to the introduction of several new models last month and a slew of associated sales and marketing initiatives initiated by the company.
Ditto with Samsung, whose distributors said that the company had witnessed a 5-10% increase in sales during August, while attributing it to recent initiatives by the company.
A Motorola spokesman was more candid on the issue, “We have industry feedback that customers have turned a little cagey when it comes to purchasing new mobiles. While handset sales growth in August has been positive, Motorola does not believe such growth was triggered by Nokia’s recent battery jinx. At best, it may have prompted some subscribers to experiment with more cellphone brands at the point of purchase.”
source
Nokia’s biggest competitors Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung have all reported a jump in their handset sales in August even though they refused to attribute this to the market leader’s battery fiasco that made international headlines a fortnight ago.
According to sources in telecom operators associations, there had been a perceptible downturn in the handset buying sentiment nationally coupled with a decline in average revenue per user (ARPU) levels across mobile operators in August.
But neither GSM industry association Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) nor CDMA firms’ Indian Cellular Association (ICA) is ready to go official on whether this was triggered by Nokia’s battery woes.
Meanwhile, countering reports from West Bengal, UP and Gujarat of exploding batteries, Nokia on Monday said that initial investigations revealed that these were caused by the usage of fake batteries or tampered cell phones.
“We are taking these reports seriously—every single incident is being investigated and in most of the cases where explosion took place, it involve either fake batteries or tampered handsets. We are doing our best to educate our customers about the disadvantages of using counterfeit accessories,” Nokia India managing director D Shivakumar told the media.
Supported by both ICA and COAI, Nokia also said that all cases for battery replacement under the August 14 advisory would be completed within the next 15 days.
At a joint press meeting in New Delhi, ICA president Pankaj Mohindroo also demanded that the government set basic quality standards for all batteries imported to India to protect consumers, while also calling for rationalisation of duties as fake batteries were being imported for as low as Rs 10 (along with a duty of Rs 3) when compared to Rs 100 and a 34% levy for authentic products.
When asked if the battery fiasco had impacted the company’s sales over the last two weeks, Mr Shivakumar said, “Absolutely not. There has been no dip in our sales. We have only emerged stronger as we were able to demonstrate the company’s concern to its customers”.
Sony Ericsson’s national distributor Salora’s managing director G Jivarajka told ET that sales in August had risen by nearly 20% compared to July levels, but added that the growth was due to the introduction of several new models last month and a slew of associated sales and marketing initiatives initiated by the company.
Ditto with Samsung, whose distributors said that the company had witnessed a 5-10% increase in sales during August, while attributing it to recent initiatives by the company.
A Motorola spokesman was more candid on the issue, “We have industry feedback that customers have turned a little cagey when it comes to purchasing new mobiles. While handset sales growth in August has been positive, Motorola does not believe such growth was triggered by Nokia’s recent battery jinx. At best, it may have prompted some subscribers to experiment with more cellphone brands at the point of purchase.”
source
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