'Moto G sales ramp up in India was one of the fastest in world'

Motorola Mobility says the ramp up of Moto G sales in India was one of the fastest in the world.

BANGALORE: Motorola Mobility says the ramp up of Moto G sales in India was one of the fastest in the world. 

"Our initial plan was aggressive, but what actually happened blew out all our expectations. Moto G has been a phenomenal success for us in India," the company's head of Europe, Apac, Middle East & Africa, Magnus Ahlqvist, told TOI on a visit to Bangalore on Wednesday. 

He declined to state specific sales figures. Asked if Moto G customers were mostly those who would otherwise have bought Indian brands like Micromax or Karbonn, Ahlqvist said he was yet to do any detailed analysis, but anecdotal evidence suggested that most customers were coming from other international brands. "Lot of people are saying they were thinking of buying a Rs 20,000 phone, but found in Moto G a better phone at a lower price (it's sold between Rs 12,500 and Rs 14,000). Globally too, it's mostly Apple and Samsung customers who are moving to us," he said. 

Moto G was launched globally in November last year, and was introduced in India in early February. It was Motorola Mobility's first phone after the transformation it underwent after it was acquired by Google (Google recently sold it to Lenovo, but that transaction is yet to be approved by regulatory authorities in different regions). 

Ahlqvist attributed Moto G's success to Motorola focusing on giving a "clean Android experience" and a focus on what "really, really matters to customers". He said customers want great display, a good build, great design, and they don't want to be stranded in terms of software one year down. "We did not clutter Android with a lot of things on top of it, and we provided all of these things that customers want at a great price point," he said. 

Asked about customer disappointment with the low resolution (5MP) rear camera, Ahlqvist said the company had to do some balancing (in order to meet the price point). "But we are looking at feedback, looking at how we can improve the product. We are constantly putting out improvements to specific apps; we are not waiting for the next major maintenance release. Since launch we have already made some 30-35 improvements, including a slide bar in gallery display," he said. 

He noted that there were some 9,800 reviews on Flipkart (the sole seller of Motorola Mobility products in India) and the average rating was about 4.6 (on 5). "The complaints are mostly about there not being enough stock," he said. 

Ahlqvist said the decision to go solely with an ecommerce player to sell its phones also proved to be hugely successful, and there was no plan to change that model in the foreseeable future. "We were doing this for the first time in the world (to go with a single seller and that too an online seller). Even for Flipkart it was a big decision, as they were also doing it for the first time. We had no idea it would become so successful," he said. 

Flipkart enabled Motorola to quickly reach remote locations in India. And where customers complained that Flipkart was not serving them in certain locations, Flipkart expanded to those areas. "The customers in India are really educated and well informed. They are paying attention to what Amazon customers are saying in other countries, what bloggers around the world are saying," he said. 

Asked if he anticipated any changes following Lenovo's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, he said he believed Lenovo would retain it as a separate brand and take forward the essence of the changes brought under Google, which was to reduce complexity, have fewer products, but ensure those products make a real difference. "Lenovo can drive scale and global presence. Smartphone manufacturing will require PC manufacturing like capabilities in future, and that's a strength Lenovo will bring," he said. 

Asked about the Moto X, a higher end smartphone that has just been launched at Rs 24,000, Ahlqvist said the initial feedback has been very positive. "We have combined simplicity with some great functionality. For instance, you can do a lot of operations without touching the phone, by simply speaking out," he said
.

Hi guys If u like this post please leave a comment in comment box... comment box will top right of every post and bottom of every post. its useful for me give a better information.. check top of the blog there is menu bar in that go to comments i replied for u r comments because there is no direct option for reply for u r comments. if u want to give any suggestion in bottom of blog there is contact information option please leave a msgs with u r mail id sure i will get u.