Nokia leads dual-SIM mobile phone market in India

Nokia, the world’s largest seller of mobile phones by volumes, had also recently leaded in the dual-SIM mobile handsets in India. Further elaborating on this while announcing Nokia Q3 results, Mr Stephen Elop of Nokia was quoted as, “Nokia shipped approximately 18 million dual SIM devices globally, and in markets such as India where dual SIM is pervasive, we gained market share.”

“A new trend that is becoming visible is the launch of dual SIM smartphones by vendors”, stated Tarun Pathak, a telecom sector analyst associated with CyberMedia.

According to a media research, multi-SIM shipments accounted 54 per cent of the total handsets market during November 2011 in the country. Nokia is leading the race with 19 per cent market share, followed by Micromax (7.1 per cent) and Karbonn (6.9 per cent).

Finnish handset manufacturer, Nokia entered the Dual SIM market in 2010.

Nokia took corrective steps by joining the bandwagon of dual-SIM mobile phones by launching its first ever C1-00 and C2-00 phones in mid-2010.

However, Nokia, a late entrant in the multi-SIM device category, fast tracked the process of consolidation by rolling out five models by Sept 2011, to make its presence felt in every price segment in India.

Nokia has launched as many as seven phones including the Asha series in the dual-SIM category.

According to the report, Nokia also managed to cope with the foreign exchange fluctuation as it mainly sources components for the low end phones from local market.

On the other hand, the Indian phone makers such as Maxx Mobile, Lava, Micromax and Karbon were forced to increase price as the components of their phones are sourced from China and other Asian nations. The report pointed out that other Indian manufacturer had to increase price to keep their profit margins safe.

In the overall India mobile handsets market, Nokia is followed by Samsung at second position with 12 % and Micromax at third position with 4 % market share.