We want to be the number one smart phone player : Samsung

Samsung is now counting on its new stylish products, creative marketing and ascending ambition to terminate the gap on rival Nokia.

Ranjit Yadav, Samsung India Country Head of mobile and IT says, "We want to be the number one smart phone player in the country. Our target is to grab 40 percent market share by the end of this year"

The Korean company at present holds about a 23 percent share in the eight million per annum smart-phone market. According to industry estimates, it is just behind Nokia, which has 39 percent share.

The success of its new products, Samsung Galaxy S2 this June has boosted Samsung's confidence to challenge Nokia. The mobile phone is priced at 32,890. It helped the company to increase its incremental sales of smart phones by over 20 percent this month in India.

Nokia's new range of Windows mobile phones might take some months to get to the market, which could turn out as a disadvantage. Nokia India head of marketing Viral Oza, says, "We will surely retain our dominance in the market." Morever, Oza says that that Nokia has lined up 10 new smart phones for launch based on the Symbian platform in the next 12 months. And it will continue to support Symbian till 2016, there is no cause for worry to consumers at all.

Samsung is aware that challenging Nokia will not be a cake walk for them. They have to sell a lot of smart phones to achieve that target. The smart phone market expects to double by the end of this year. And in order to achieve its goal, Samsung has to ship more than three times more smart phones to hit 40 percent shares.

Ranjit says, "We offer customers Android operating systems, we also offer them Bada which is our own proprietary system and we are also looking at launching some Microsoft Window operating systems. It's a kind of range which our competitors cannot match," He adds that Samsung also offers an array of phone forms like QWERTY keys, touch-screens and normal keys.

Samsung is also creating a large base of applications which are useful for its consumers with the mobile phone. It offers 150,000 Java and as many as 9,000 Bada and android applications which you can download. The company has also created a "Samsung Fun Club" from which smart-phone users can download games, video and music. Samsung is getting over 1.6 million downloads every day.

Nokia is creating an eco system around the phones which is the key for the success of such products. Nokia Store offers as much as 17,000 applications. The Ovi store from which you can also buy music gets over one million hits from India alone. It has also introduced a smart-phone which has both the touch as well as the type format for less than Rs 10,000.

It is also playing creative with marketing tools to sell these phones even though their price ranges from Rs 6,000 to Rs 30,000.

Recently launched X-7 was pushed through a gaming competition "Full Throttle."

Samsung has set up 55 Smart Phone Cafes across the country which offers a space where consumers can use the phone and understand its features. They can also get assistance in downloading applications or understanding features even after they have bought the phone. To ensure best service, Samsung is also training over 1000 odd consultants who can handle the S2 and other high end smart phone demonstration.

Samsung has established itself at the second position in the mobile market in the country just behind Nokia. With both companies anxious to dominate in this lucrative segment of the handset market, the battle has just begun.