The I(ndia)-Phone

Dear Mr Jobs: We in India are looking forward eagerly to your introduction of the iPhone. The dazzling performance of your company and its exquisitely designed products are already the stuff of folklore around the world. We know of your addiction to calligraphy, an art which we refined for centuries, as we evolved our many diverse scripts. If for no other reason, your love of calligraphy alone will make you popular and loved in India. Many of us may not have iPods. But we know about them and might know people who have them. Your impact on the music world is the stuff of legend; we are lovers of legends and mythic heroes. May you in the months and years ahead become an authentic Indian hero and acquire a blue skin. (I promise to explain this bit if you ever give me an appointment!)

In this country we have an insatiable appetite for mobile phones and we are the fastest growing market for this now ubiquitous instrument. We love the freedom, the access, the connectivity and the sheer entertainment value of our phones. We love jokes, film songs, horoscopes, SMS text messages of every kind and our ability to talk to friends and family while waiting in the endless queues which are endemic to our country. Your plan to increase our range of choices is a very welcome one indeed.

But one word of caution. You are a marketing genius and I am sure you will react positively to this piece of unsolicited (and free!) consulting advice. Do not believe your over-sophisticated agencies when they assure you that the globe is a fast-homogenising market. Please insist that all your marketing executives read an unusual book published recently by my friend Rama Bijapurkar: We are like that only. The global consumer market can be described as homogenous only in so far as it is a tough market everywhere. On virtually every other count, markets are divergent and the Indian market almost always crops up as a statistical outlier.

The first thing to know about us is that we are a poor country. Despite the long Indian billionaires list put out by Forbes magazine, we remain a country of poor people. But being poor does not make the vast majority of Indians stupid. Au contraire: we are quite clever and, to use business school jargon, very “value conscious”. Our consumers are dead-set against shoddy goods (or goods perceived to be shoddy) being palmed off on them merely because they are poor. They are quite competent to make complex trade-offs usually associated with very sophisticated market participants.

... contd.

Ads By Google

Message*	Maximum characters allowed

Name*		Email ID*
Subject*		Country*

TERMS OF USE:
The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).

I agree to the terms of use.

Mail this page