India, one of the world’s fastest growing economy is also amongst the top consumer when it comes to wireless communication devices and services. With the second largest population in the world, the market has always been there, but to tap it well is the main key to success which Nokia has proved with their sustained efforts. So this is an open letter to all Companies to learn a lesson form Nokia on how it has taken a huge stride in leadership of the wireless communication devices sector. Well, some points here are for Nokia as well, as there are a few things that we like about the other device manufactures as well , so in all a general letter to all.

(Indian has world’s 17.50% population)

So I will do a quick but important rundown of the things we the people here in India are looking for. This post will have its share of Mathematics so keep those pens and papers with you. We have referred the Census Of Indian and Wikipedia for the following data. Now to start the first point that I would like to talk about which I already have is that India has the world’s 17.50 % population, which will roughly be 1.13 billion as of March 2008, which on a growth rate of 1.38% will overtake China real soon. So from here you can imagine the potential Indian Economy holds for you with a whole lot of consumers. So with that said, what does one need to strike big? Well, to know more read on.

Now, how will this help you? That’s really simple, with little cluster breaks we can divide the population into different groups which then would make more sense. Not the whole population is going to spend that money to buy your device, the only people that will do that include the portion of the population i.e. 15-59 years Age Group. So taking out that this population we get the figure of 56.90 % . Doing the Math part right, you should get 0.64297 billion people approximately, which include college students, workers, businessmen etc. That’s the population that should be targeted. So you now know what portion of population is actually using your devices.

(57% of the Indian population is productive)

Now, we are a developing nation, which means we still have a lot of things to achieve, like the west has, most important of them being social security. But let’s not get into that, what I am pointing out here is that, out of this huge population of productive age group we do have a lot of different sub groups that need to be individually targeted. The first and foremost is the people living below poverty line. As much as 22% of the total population lives below poverty line. So be it productive age group or no, this is altogether a different scene have to be subtracted from our calculations as they are in no position to spend for a device. Food and shelter are bigger priorities for them. This leaves us with 0.5016155 billion people.

(Point to note is that people below poverty line are decreasing every year)

The story does not end here. We have a Literacy rate of 79.9% which means that an approximate of 80% people actually know what they want in a mobile. (For this calculation we make an assumption that people below poverty line are not literate. Which is self explanatory and will have no effect on the overall outcome.) For eg. What features are the devices being packed with, is the cost of one device with a certain set of features better or the other device with some other features. Thus, they include the people who are ready to make decision between various devices based on their knowledge and are ready to look for options. So, now you know what your ultimate goal should be. That’s right, target this population. Well, it can be very difficult to do this unless you know some other facts worth knowing. The density and distribution of population are your key friends. With a product aimed at them specifically you can achieve wonders. If this clicks then, people would sure love to spread the word about it and thus a chain reaction would occur. But it is not as easy as it sounds. To know the grass root level story you have to have a proper team deployed which actually tests what people are looking for. They have a constant communication with the people and daily chart out what has been going on and thus are able to read the mind of the common man.

(This will provide an little overview where you should focus more and where will you face competition. Please Note, the areas with high population density need not be the most literate parts. So its a lot complicated and needs further evaluation to chart out an action plan.)

Also if you need a quick insight about how to go about it, then follow the middle working class. The people who are working in various sectors of life as they are the one’s who actually put the service on the scales and see if its really worth and thus give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. But this leaves out the innovation part. So where to get that peek into the future, well just look around in various colleges and universities where a whole lot of next generation kids are bobbling with amazing ideas. And they do make an important part of the whole process as they are the future.

Another way to get that extra edge is to track the virtual world. The internet is full with people discussing every possible thing. Just find your niche and start exploring what people have been upto .

For the final note, let’s do some serious calculations. If you are able to sell your device to even 1% of the productive population then, it roughly comes out to be 0.005 billion devices sold. Well, you guys can do further conversions if you want, but I’ll leave it here But in a nut shell all you need to do is know your consumers and prove right on their expectations

Where is Nokia in all of this?
Well, Nokia has been involved in all this in various ways. First, WOM / World Nokia has been keeping a close watch on the virtual world discussing about their high end devices. This coupled with the sending of trials to us in India shows that the company has confidence in their products and at the same time are prepared to hear all the criticism, which actually helps. And not to mention the viral campaign they come up with time to time also helps a lot.

Second, they are advancing in every sector, right from simple phones and services for the poor to more spicy products for the teens to more matured devices for the business class. Thus, they are taking each sector along which is good. I first believed that, they were overlooking the poor class but with the recent announcement of affordable range of devices and Life Tools, they have proved me wrong. Well, these are a few points that everyone can learn from Nokia.

But at the same time Nokia has been a little complacent on certain matters. For example, I have not been getting a good response from their office when I have a few questions to clarify or some points of interest for which I wanted more information. So Nokia India totally lacks a Good Public Relation Department giving the Indian equation a totally thumbs down. The same is the case with the Nokia Care Centres around the city. So a gloomy picture here which is in no way working for the company. Hope they are reading this .

Anyways, but this is now, what will it be like in the future, somewhere around 2025. I have also charted out a few points that can be glanced below. Will make a new post on these points. We will also take a much more deeper look on different regions as well. Till then take care.

PS.

Do you know that there are 2 Mobile / Wireless Service Provider Companies in the top 10 companies list of India.