Smartphone company Karbonn Mobiles is now planning to venture into the start-up industry by investing up to $3 million each in start-ups to promote the growth of the ecosystem of apps and services for users. This will further add on to the company’s portfolio of smartphones in the entry-to-mid price segments.
In the last few quarters, Karbonn has lost significant amount of shares and with this strategy, it plans to bounce back up – a well thought move due to the prosperity happening in the start-up industry.
The Delhi-based handset maker is taking after rival and largest local brand Micromax, which is investing millions into an ecosystem of startups whose features get integrated into the company’s smartphones, providing exclusivity to its consumers.
“We’re evaluating from how the developers will be able to bring in the necessary differentiation and relevance to our consumers,” executive director Shashin Devsare said. “Some of the startups that we’re looking at are in India and China,” he added without divulging details.
The company has recognized plenty of budding start-ups for discussions and exploratory talks but is still yet to decide the number of such start-ups for investments. The decisions will be made according to the specialisation, product or service that the development team can deliver to the last mile consumers.
Mobile manufacturers in India are increasingly trying to create products with different, unique and innovative features to attract different types of consumers. The entry of low cost Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi, Meizu and Gionee has made it difficult for Indian manufacturers to match up to the competition. This is further pushing down the economy and prices of smartphones globally as well.
