Your feature phone is just getting smarter

At a time when a whole array of smartphones are flooding the market, mobile phone companies are equally vigilant of the traditional feature phone space with some modifications to suit the new demand.

By definition, any phone other than a smartphone is generally a feature phone. A study published by CyberMedia Research on Monday shows that the feature phone sales grew 19.9 per cent to 206.4 million in 2012 from 172.2 million in the previous year.
On the whole, mobile handset sales in India grew 20.8 per cent to 221.6 million units in 2012, said the study, adding that smartphones comprised a small chunk of the overall handset market, at about 7 per cent.

These figures can tell that the age of feature phone is not over and they are actually coming in a new avatar, which many call the “smart-feature” phone or the phone that borders somewhere in-between and reasonably priced too. The border between the two categories is thus blurring.

Big players like Samsung, Nokia and even the new entrant Micromax, have presence in the feature phone category. Samsung launched its Rex series in February 2013, while Nokia came earlier with the “Asha” series of handsets last year.  When asked about the importance of feature phones in India, Samsung Mobile Vice-President Asim Warsi said that at present, feature phones still contribute around 75-80 per cent of the mobile market in India.

“As users demand more from their devices, feature phones are fast evolving to become more like smartphones by incorporating features like mobile Internet, instant messaging, high-resolution touch screens, smarter user interface, etc,” Warsi told Deccan Herald. The new-age feature phones come in an attractive price range of around Rs 4,000-9,000, with many smart features like Internet browsing, touch screens and downloads.

Nokia, the company whose feature phones were a craze at a point of time, believes that India is a market of extremes, where there are strong consumer volumes for devices at all price points. The company’s India Director (Marketing) Viral Oza said, “It hence becomes important for a company like Nokia to invest in the first time consumer, who today may buy an Asha phone, but is likely to migrate to the Nokia Lumia experience at a later stage.”

On Feb 11, 2011, Nokia had announced its strategy to bring the next billion online in developing growth markets through their “Asha” range of devices by delivering a differentiated range of smart solutions.  According to Oza, the needs of the feature phone consumer are no different from those of a high end device consumer. A feature phone user is hence one who is looking out for an excellent and intuitive user experience, lots of features, and access to relevant content. And they want it all wrapped up in a modern, attractive phone design that is also affordable.

However, handset maker Sony pulled out of feature phone business in September last year claiming that their research have found people are ready to pay more for the features they get in a smartphone.

According to Gartner Principal Research Analyst Anshul Gupta, “Feature phones still constitute 90 per cent of the market.”  He added that the boundaries are blurring with the introduction of “smart-feature” phones. He however, cautioned that if prices of smartphones fall further, there won’t be enough takers for feature phones.