How are you looking into the India smartphone market?
As you are aware, India is poised to emerge as the third largest smartphone market in the world by 2017, with a major proportion of the buyers being new users. Our range of OPPO smartphones, that include OPPO N1 – our flagship device, OPPO R1, OPPO Find5 Mini, OPPO Neo and our latest introduction OPPO Joy and OPPO Yoyo, are positioned to bring exclusive value and experience to them and make more and more people enjoy the feeling of possessing a smartphone in the true sense. For the new users, what really matters is quality and availability. Customers always come first during our business operation. We are targeting for an aggressive service network expansion this year to ensure customers of our commitment to better serve them. Our products have a far lower repair rate as compared to the industry average.
How many mobile devices are you looking to launch this year?
OPPO currently has 6 phone models available in the Indian market since our entry in the market in February. We are targeting a product portfolio of atleast 10 smartphones by the end of the year.
What makes you different from other Chinese brands?
At OPPO, we are committed to designing beautiful technology products with an open attitude. We aim to fuse technology and affection in all our products, and therefore OPPO has been relentless in the pursuit of the latest technology, the highest hardware quality standards and to delivering the element of positive surprise. I believe it’s this attitude that sets us apart essentially.
Other than this,we have a whole control of the complete process from design to R&D, from sourcing the best customized parts to manufacturing, from distribution to marketing them around the world. This ensures our products are of the best quality.
Besides, OPPO is never a brand to seek quick profit. We believe it takes time to connect with customers before we could improve their lives with smart technologies and our products. We hope to have our root in India and become a part of Indian citizens’ daily lives. With this in mind, we are able to focus on customer satisfaction and feedback instead of a quick market success.
What is your distribution strategy for the Indian market?
As of now, OPPO Mobile currently retails in 12 major cities of India: New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru (Bangalore), Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Kolkata, Pune and Lucknow. We will be targeting a mix of multi-brand retail and channel partners, small format stores and self-branded stores for the network expansion drive.
How N1 is doing in the Indian market? Don’t you feel that the device was priced little higher?
Our flagship device OPPO N1 has got phenomenal reviews not only in India but across the globe. The OPPO N1 sports a stunning 5.9-inch Full HD IPS Capacitive Touchscreen and is configured with its reputable Color OS (the first version has over 2,000 improvements compared with the stock android, for this we collected over 30,000 pieces of advice from over 20,000 customers) for handling software requirements and processing daily routines way more convinient .
The cutting-edge design, like the first 13MP rotating camera and the first well-integrated back touch panel O-Touch in the world, as well as the cute and functional O-Click which creates tons of possibilities, also speak for themselves. In fact, since its presence in the market, N1 has won numerous awards and honours globally, for example CNET Editors’ Choice has touted the OPPO N1 as 2013’s most innovative smartphone, and believe me, innovation matters in our time.
Other than these, the elegant and highest standard crafts used for building N1 make it one of the products with the lowest repair rate in the industry. The price, keeping in mind the features and exclusive experience that N1 offers, is completely justifiable. Today’s users are highly technology savvy and are willing to pay for something that’s worth its cost, and this has been proved by the market feedback.
