Eyeing a big slice of the fastest growing mobile handset market in the world, multinational IT giant Dell plans to bring its range of smartphones to India.
“India is one of the key markets for Dell consumers and as we work on the plans to bring the smartphones to this market, we continue to explore various go-to-market options,” Dell India General Manager (Consumer) Mahesh Bhalla said.
He, however, did not disclose specific details on the exact date for launch of Dell’s mobile handsets or the models to be made available in the country.
In an advertisement in a local newspaper, Dell on Wednesday said it is “making a move into mobile phones” and has sought distributors with “retail reach”.
Dell, which is the world’s third largest PC maker, will be following its global peer Apple in introducing its handsets in the Indian market, dominated by low-cost handsets.
According to telecom regulator TRAI, India had about 617.53 million mobile phone users by May-end, second only to China, while an estimate by research firm IDC shows that 101.54 million handsets were sold in the Indian market during the 2009 calendar year.
Dell had announced its entry into the growing smartphone category globally late last year. Smartphone players in India include Apple, HTC, Research in Motion (with BlackBerry), while other handset makers like Nokia, Samsung and LG have also added an array of smartphones to their portfolio to tap the growth in this segment.
