Panasonic Bets Big on Apps to Capture Indian Smartphone Market

To woo potential smartphone buyers in India, electronics major Panasonic is working on mobile apps that promises to "make life easier" as it attempts to catch up with bigger rivals like Samsung and Micromax.

Calling itself a "late entrant" in Indian mobile phone market - one of the world's fastest growing smartphone markets - Panasonic aims to roll out the new apps in the next 2-3 months.

"We are working on some really innovative applications, which would eventually make the life of people more easy. Maybe, in about a few months time, you would be exposed to those kind of applications and user interfaces which I think would differentiate the devices," Panasonic India & South Asia President & CEO Manish Sharma told PTI.

Admitting that the Indian market is dominated by Chinese companies, Sharma said a strong portfolio of devices isn't enough to grab market share in India.

"We have entered this market only two-and-a-half years before and by that time the market was penetrated. We have to catch up and only the devices will not let us do that. Possibly, in the near future, we would see more applications to come in and we are working right now," he said.

Sharma did not disclose the details of the apps that the company is looking at launching but said they "would eventually make the life of people more easy."

"I think that consumers still expect high quality products to come in. There is different set of consumers because they have their own preferences and eventually our idea is to be competitive in terms of supply chain," said Sharma, who is also Executive Officer at Panasonic Corporation.

"If we are able to manage the supply chain properly and better efficiencies in terms of bringing those products to India, I think that everything is competitive as far as business is concerned. Television is equally competitive," he said.

Smartphone shipments in India grew 11 percent year-on- year to 32.3 million smartphones in July-September 2016 quarter, while the same was higher by 17.4 percent than April-June 2016 quarter, according to research firm IDC.

Panasonic India expects about 24 percent of its overall sales to come from mobile phones. It expects sales of about Rs. 2,500 crores from mobile phones this fiscal, and its total projected sales stands at about Rs. 10,800 crores for FY 2016-17.

Panasonic India on Thursday inaugurated first of its kind Video and Still Photography School in India, offering an enhanced experience of the Panasonic 4K Technology available in cameras and camcorders.