Spice Mobility, Transsion Joint Venture to Revitalise Spice Brand for Indian Youth

Hong Kong-based Transsion Holdings, which owns the Tecno and Itel brands that recently made their way to the Indian market, on Thursday announced a joint venture with domestic mobile brand Spice Mobility. The venture, among other things, gives Transsion access to the Spice brand, which now has a new identity with a new logo.

Transsion and Spice Mobility will be launching 10 devices - five smartphones and five feature phones - under the new Spice brand by the end of this year. The first batch of these will be launched starting the first half of July. The devices will be sold via the offline retail channel only.

Focused on the Indian youth, the new Spice brand co-developed with Transsion has the philosophy of "Making Sharing Better". In a joint statement, the companies said the "product portfolio comes equipped with easy to use features that [are] designed especially to promote a superior digital experience, thereby making 'sharing' fun." They added that the new Spice brand portfolio will offer "stylishly designed devices catering to the needs of the Indian youth."

Commenting on the launch of the joint venture and new Spice brand, Lin Qin, Vice President, Transsion Holdings, said, "We are excited to announce our partnership with the Spice Group and it is a matter of a great pride for us to actively contribute to the growing mobile phone ecosystem in the country. With Transsion's success in India over the past year, this JV is a win-win situation for both the groups. We weill be exploring various strategic opportunities by building on each other's strengths such as wide distribution strength, understanding of the Indian consumer, and a comprehensive portfolio of quality products. Our aim is to translate the company's global success by designing easy to use products that cater to the local consumer preferences and social milieu."

Dilip Modi, Executive Chairman, Spice Mobility, added, "We are absolutely delighted to partner with Transsion Holdings. As a strategic partner, we believe this combines Spice's legacy strength and Transsion's global leadership to bring a whole new mobility experience to our consumers. This JV is a commitment towards furthering digital inclusion in India, assuring high quality products and services to one and all, thus democratising innovation and technology. We are sure that by leveraging each other's strengths, we will make a significant contribution to the emerging Indian technology market."