Sharp sets a million unit target in India

MUMBAI, INDIA: With major telecos all set to roll out 3G (third generation) mobile services in India by this year end, Sharp Business Systems (India) Limited, the Indian subsidiary of Sharp Corporation, is gearing up to tap the mobile handset market in the country.

Though the entry of Sharp into the Indian handset market would be considered a bit late compared to other handset markers, Sunil K Sinha, Sharp Business Systems (India) Limited's managing director, doesn't agree.

“Our strength is 3G. And as the 3G spectrum has been allocated to operators in India and they will be rolling out 3G services soon, Sharp becomes hugely relevant to India now. So we see a good opportunity now and it is the right time to enter into the Indian market,” Sinha told CyberMedia News on the sidelines of the company's handsets launch in Mumbai on Thursday.

Sharp announced the launch of four handsets — Alice, Blink, Tango and Cyborg, which will be available in the local markets in a weeks' time. For these handsets, the company is targeting about 500 mobile shops which are into mid and high-end segment among 2500 mobile shops spread across Mumbai.

The four models in the price range of Rs.6500 to Rs.18000.

“Our mobile business comes to India on the position of our great background and strength in 3G. We are the leader in Japan with 28 per cent shares in the mobile market and also we supply handsets to DoCoMo and other operators that provide 3G services,” Sinha said.

“The 3G handset market in India is very big and hard to estimate, but so far there is a 10 per cent demand of 3G handsets. And we are looking to sell a million handsets by the end of 2011, which would be a 3 per cent market share,” he added.

According to Sinha, the company has sold over a million mobile phones in $300 plus range in China, where most mobile handsets are manufactured. Early this year, the company also started to supply handsets to AT&T in the US.

He explained that over 50 per cent components used in mobile handsets across companies are supplied by Sharp; however he didn’t reveal the companies' name due to legal and contractual agreements.

The Japanese firm entered India in 2000 with the main focus on business and consumer electronics products such as fax machines, cameras, projectors, liquid crystal displays (LCD) and digital copiers. Sharp has around 700 people in India, out of which 100 are employees in software development and another 100 work in the manufacturing unit located in Pune.

“If we can cross 5 million mark of mobile sales in the next 3 years, the company could look into the possibility of manufacturing in India,” Sinha hoped. However, he clarified Sharp would not enter into the low-cost handsets. It would also look for tie-ups with retailers, but only after more handsets are launched here.

Also, shared that the company has plans to launch solar battery based handsets in next six months.