How can Micromax improve itself

Taking the blows now?

It is quite good to see that many of our local companies are successfully launching smartphones and selling them allover India at unbelievably low prices. Leaders among such brands include Micromax, Karbonn, Lava and their likes. This has many benefits, and has certainly contributed to the development of Indian economy. No matter how good their phones are, Samsung, HTC, Sony, Nokia, RIM etc are actually foreign companies willing to grab a chunk of profit from India. In my personal opinion, we should rather let our country's money stay inside the country, by buying and using products made by our local brands.

But honestly, if a person has high budget, how can we ever expect him/her to turn to a Micromax Canvas HD rather than a Galaxy S IV? The question is rhetorical. The's no answer, practically, as of now. I am the proud owner of several Micromax devices, ranging from a lowly feature phone to A110, Funbook P300 to Funbook Infinity etc and am planning to support them even more by buying more of their products in future. But at the same time, while I do support their cause, that is to provide quality android smartphones at extremely low prices allover India, I certainly dislike some of their marketting policies, and believe they can, with time and effort, get rid of these flaws.



Let us take the Micromax A110 scenario and examine the various issues I was talking about. First of all, before the release of Micromax A116 Canvas HD, A110 Superfone Canvas 2 was the flagship device of Micromax (kinda). It is a magnificient device that I got for only ₹ 10,000 all total, tax included, on the 30^thof November last year, here in Kolkata, West Bengal. I was just spellbound, after getting the phone at hand. Although I did a little bit of research before buying it, and was quite well aware of its specifications, the actual device just puzzled me with its simplicity and beauty. The box was pretty simple, and the accessories weren't mind-blowing, but the device itself was, and what more can we even expect at this price point? Elegantly designed, running Android ICS with the power of its dual-core 1GHz processor and decorated further by a fabulous 8MP camera at the back and a 0.3 doable one in front, and even with dual-LED flash (the intensity wasn't good back then, but modding the phone a bit helped me with that)! All for this price! Even a year ago from now, dreaming this kind of thing was just insane.



As a student of higher secondary, I don't do a job, and that's why I didn't want to pressurize my parents with the absurd demand of “BUY ME A GALAXY NOTE 2 SO THAT I CAN BE CREATIVE!!!!!”, because of the following reasons:
1. First of all, although we can afford to buy a Note 2, I don't personally see any need to do that. Yeah, it has better specifications, but Micromax A110 just does the things I want it to do, and pretty fast too. In my opinion, it is unwise to just wildly run before specifications.
2. Micromax is an Indian company, and I wanted to support them, the least I could. Also, I convinced many of friends and classmates to go for a Canvas 2 rather than other expensive phones. Why? Not because I was paid by Micromax to do that, just simply because of the principle of self-justification to an extent, and also because I was immensely satisfied with the phone.
3. Spending more than 40000 rupees just for a phone? That's plain insane in a developing country where millions still don't have food or shelter.

Hm, if only this level of advertising supported A110...

A distant relative of mine often boasts on facebook about how he got a Nexus 4, and I pretty much hate him for that. Simply spending more money for a more expensive phone, and then just using it to play games and be social is abominable, if you ask me.



But then, I discovered multiple flaws in the entire marketting policy of Micromax. These are a few ofthem:

1. Lack of advertising: 

Micromax A110 (and A100 before that), both are awesome phones if you ask me. In fact, they're both 5'' phablets, giving you a nice balance between the portability of phones and large screen + performance of tablets. But hell, what a sort of advertising did these guys go for! Not one of my friends, not even the shop-owners in this part of north Kolkata did know about A110. And how could they, in fact? Most people in our country still use internet just for browsing porns, downloading illegal movies and games and maybe checking out a bit of facebook. This is bound to change, but it will definitely take some time. In the mean time, Micromax can actively advertise its phones, and other than a few ads mocking Samsung and Apple, I didn't practically catch the glimpse of most. Yeah, the Canvas 2 Ad was fine, but how frequently was it actually broadcasted? None else practically knew about it, save and expect one guy I met in train. Most folks, even in Esplanade, one of the most celebrated and developed parts of entire India, asked me “Ah, is that a NOTE 2?” as they saw my phone, and then “Wow! So cheap and so nice? Where can I buy one?” after I disclosed the matter to them.

Clash of the titans

The possible solutiosn is that, Micromax should advertise more. I know it costs money when done on newspapers and television, but there are other ways as well. For example, they can follow Mr. Amish Tripathi's business model in getting his famous Shiva-Trilogy books popular. The lesson? Micromax should use free, online advertising with Youtube, blogs etc. A powerful advertising scheme isn't bound to fair in this regard. Also, informally, they can pack a few free, shiny posters also serving as calendars and such, with each of their flagship devices, so that we can hang them in our houses and our friends and family can actually get interested in them..
They can also hold more competitions and distribute their flagship devices as the first prize.
Just look at the Galaxy Grand advertisement btw, way better than that of Canvas HD. But the reverse is true for the phones themselves, all factors considered.

2. Poor supply of devices: 

Even though many of my friends wanted to buy a Canvas 2, most of them couldn't, just because of the poor supply. Within 2 months of its release, Micromax stopped the supply of its phones, and those too of its so-called flagship device! Maybe they didn't estimate it would have this amount of success, but a second wave of supply followed with an upgraded version of Micromax ROM. And that too depleted within a month or two. Poor advertising plus poor supply, that's strike two!

3. Poor support for development: 

Micromax did not release any JellyBean update for their ROMs, and that's disheartening. Instead, they just released another devide, Canvas HD, with JellyBean. Now, they could have released the kernel code for A110 so that the developers in XDA could actually use it to mod Micromax A110 even more. This not only makes things cooler, but keeps the device 'alive' for a long time. Instead, more of the guys had to switch to Mobistel Cynus T2 ROMs for getting JellyBean support. And just examine the number of JellyBean ROMs created soon after Cynus T2's JellyBean update got released! Ranging from DrBhokali ROM to Jalebi, from Ulefone to Amoi, we have a wide range of choices now! I know, releasing the kernel code makes things more competitive for Micromax, since there are other companies who would want to make similar devices. But after 2 or 3 months of releasing the device, releasing the kernel code doesn't harm.
Micromax should realize that we, the devs and advanced users community included, would want to customize our phones to the best possible extent.

4. Poor support cycle: 

Just after 4 months of releasing Canvas 2, they released another device, an upgraded one this time filling many of the gaps we found in original Canvas, the Canvas HD. Nice attempt, but there should have been at least 10 months time before the two releases. Why? They simply can't expect all of us to switch to new devices immedietely, and throw away or exchange or do whatever else with our brand new phones which are just a couple of months old! I know, this gives users more choice, but thanks to the lack of Micromax A110 phones, new customers would be forced to buy A116 which is a bit more pricy compared to its predessor.
Instead, they should release an upgrade for their ROMs from time to time, actively use some of their own eigineers to post new tutorials, blog articles etc about their devices, advertise it more, and it would really pay them back. Micromax follows different models for urban and rural sales, and they should improve supply and diversity on both the fronts.



I personally want to see Micromax grow, and one day, I believe they might even challenge Samsung and HTC in the global market. And that would indeed be a day of pride for Mother India and all her sons alike.