Changing trends in the world of Smart Phones

With the inception of the concept of smart phones, the entire world went through a major change which resulted in people always being connected to the internet. The entire world came down to one common platform (smart phone) and everybody became accessible at any time. This concept completely changed the pattern of our lives.

Initially, it was only the reputed companies like Apple, Nokia, Blackberry or Samsung who came up with the so called smart phones. At that point in time, smart phones were perceived as an item of luxury rather than an item of need. But this did not remain constant. With the coming up of companies like Micromax, Lenovo, HCL and also Spice, the market for smart phones totally changed. Initially, smart phones were priced way above the price of regular phones, but what these companies did was, they offered the same kind of products with the same features at half the price of the products produced by the mentioned reputed companies.

Recently, there came such a situation where Nokia had to sell its maximum amount of shares to Microsoft. Thus, changing the name of the company to Microsoft Mobile. This is really shocking for people who have been using mobile phones for over a decade now. About ten years back, the only company that the masses relied upon for mobiles was Nokia. During this period, Nokia had the largest market share and the market share of other mobile producing companies were nothing worth mentioning. This entire trend changed after 2010, with the inception of the Android Operating System, which created a totally new platform for applications for phones, along with easy access to the public. This is the point from which the main shift in the mobile usage pattern of the people can be seen.

Android, being a free platform / Operating System, opened up the possibility for smaller companies to deliver products which boast of features which are parallel to the features of phones from reputed companies. Thus, smaller companies as well as new companies started penetrating the market and this led to the shift in the usage pattern of the people in such a  manner that it gave the big dogs in the market a run for their money.

A great example of this would be the company called Xiaomi Tech. Mainly centered at China,Xiaomi Tech is going on fire in India with its Mi mobiles. The mobiles of this company are available only via Flipkart. Initially, the phones were given up for sale through the medium of “Flash Sale” and thousands of units got sold in mere seconds.

This shows the shift in the usage pattern of the people in our country. It is no longer the brand name that is taken into consideration before purchasing a smart phone, what people are looking for at this moment are the features that a smart phone can offer at the cheapest possible price. 

However, there will always be a certain section of the population who would be skeptical towards the emerging companies and would still be willing to shell out extra money and get a phone from one of the reputed companies which have lasted in the market for over a decade now.

However, at large, there is a huge shift which is happening which will result in smart phones being a necessity rather than a luxury as there are still a few in our country as well as other countries who do not feel the need of keeping a smart phone.

Riddhiman Sharma

Msc.Media || PG:1