The mobile handset shipments to India have witnessed a spurt, as it rises by 13.8 per cent to 47 million units during July-September this year. According to data released by International Data Corporation (IDC), the shipments were propelled by the dual-SIM handsets, which grew by 25.2 per cent over the previous quarter. IDC Research Director for India Deepak Kumar says the mobile vendors have built inventories in view of long-festival season in the country.
The IDC report also highlights the shipments were led by the local handset manufacturers, though Nokia continued to gain success with its newly launched dual-SIM phones in India. The IDC says Nokia’s mobile shipments increased by 6.8 per cent in Q3 to 31.8 per cent. Moreover, the dual-SIM devices, which reportedly represent 30 per cent of the mobile phones in India, saw a 25 per cent increase in the third quarter of this year.
“Notwithstanding a sharp decline in the mobile service subscription adds during July-Sept 2011, the mobile phone shipments witnessed a spurt, as vendors built channel inventories ahead of a long festival season. Dual-SIM handset shipments were notable with a sequential growth of 25.2 per cent over the previous quarter,” said Deepak Kumar, research director at IDC India.
The IDC also points out that for the first time, Google’s Android operating system, has surpassed Nokia’s Symbian to become India’s top mobile platform. The IDC report says the Android ruled over 42.4 per cent of the smartphone market.
Nokia recently launched budget Series 30 music phones, with dual SIM variant
Among the Indian brands, Spice and Maxx were the notable exceptions as their shipments rose to 34.1 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively during the previous quarter (April-June 2011) this year. The IDC expects the total handset shipments will remain around 184.4 million units this year. The numbers are likely to increase to 301 million units by the end of 2015, says the IDC. Moreover, the smartphone market is likely to see a hike of 63.4 per cent during the same period and to see a shipment of 77.5 million by 2015.
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