Idea Whiz spins a surprise: The Mobile Indian survey

Of the 25 most viewed handsets in India, 13 were from Indian players as compared to 12 from global brands.

It is an accepted fact that India is a price sensitive market and this statement holds true even for the handsets market. This also reflects in 'The Handset Hotlist Survey' in the month of May, which was conducted by The Mobile Indian.

As per the survey, for the third time in 2013, models of Indian brands outnumber those from MNCs and the most searched handset was the Micromax HD A116.

The surprise entry of this month was Idea Whiz, which was launched by Idea Cellular in the month of May; it bagged the second spot, perhaps due to its price tag of Rs 6,490 and free voice and data offer.

The survey is based on a study of online preferences of over one million people who visited the website (www.themobileindian.com) in May this year. As per the latest Handset Hotlist, of the 25 most viewed handsets in India, 13 were from Indians players, while 12 belong to global brands.

Commenting on the survey, a spokesperson of The Mobile Indian says, "The average price of handsets from Indian brands that have made it to the top 25 in this month's Hotlist is around Rs 8,378 as compared to Rs 17,241 of MNC players. However, if you remove Samsung S4 and iPhone, the average price of MNC players is Rs 12,000."

The spokesperson further adds, "In the past few months, Indian players have been launching four smartphones on an average per month, and that too with attractive pricing and specifications to lure customers. It seems to be paying off."

The survey findings reveal that the average screen size and camera resolution of the handsets from the Indian brands is 4.7 inch and 5 megapixels, respectively. In comparison, the average display size and camera resolution of handsets from the MNC players is 3.9 inch and 5.6 megapixels, respectively.

Out of the 25 most searched handsets, six were from Micromax, five from Samsung, three each from Sony Mobiles and Spice, two each from Karbonn and Nokia and one each from BlackBerry, Apple, Idea and Xolo.

The Relative Score, which was introduced recently, indicates the popularity of each handset vis-à-vis the leader. This month, consumer interest position No. 3 onwards was not quite stark, and is rather close; for some slots, it was almost the same.