Sep. 30, 2009 (The Hindu Business Line) --
to the senses
Vinay Kamath
We have back-end sourcing with a number of partners: Syngenta (NYSE:SYT) , Reuters, Pearson. English, for example, we teach one word a day and the service is Rs 30 a month. What we realised is it’s not about pricing as much as value you deliver. Take the agriculture information on crop prices: Today, the farmer is spending Rs 30 a day to get information on his mandi rates, and so on. We provide it for Rs 60 a month. For farm information we have tied up too with the relevant eco-system. That’s why I say, going forward, we have to get into dependant growth mindset and not an independent growth mindset. You can’t do it yourself, you need to create multiple networks in the eco-system.
What about the technology, using this phone for so many multi-applications?
The sensory appeal of the product needs to be significantly better if people are going to be spending more time on mobiles, which means the screen size, the colours, the aspect ratio, ability to go from landscape to portrait, they are all sensory … then the ability to have a touch and coding keypad, music capabilities, camera, speakers, so the whole sensory appeal and the technology behind it will get a significant uplift as a result of people wanting it.
What are the interesting consumer trends you are seeing?
The whole concept of Facebook and social networking – people always had a basic hunger to keep connected with what matters to them and what interests them. On an average a person has about 300 friends but actively he’s in touch with about 30-50 of these friends. And, really active with about 10. So the basic hunger to reconnect is what’s driving consumers. So, if you look at the hierarchy, the first level is friends, second is relatives and the third would be others. As a result of which people are living in an instantaneous world. Indians have always done this — the first thing people ask is what are you doing, and Twitter has made a business model of it! The concept of this is ‘my life and I want to share it’, and it has gained immense traction.
As a manufacturer, is Nokia (NYSE:NOK) constantly plumbing the consumer mindspace to keep abreast of the emerging trends?
Yes, that’s what I am saying. We are seeing more people wanting to live their lives 24 x 7; they want more apps loaded on their phones, to do much more on their phones. People want to change the way they shape their destiny. For example, the bulk of rural youth want to learn English. Why is that? Because they don’t want to be in farming but want to get into services. They believe learning English is the ticket to the formal economy – services, retail and such. Aspiration levels are high. When we visit rural markets, our managers make the mistake of speaking to the youth in the local language and invariably they get a reply in English. The basic hunger of rural youth is English which they believe sets them apart. One of the biggest uptakes of the Nokia Lifetools is education.
What are the other patterns you are seeing in terms of purchase behaviour?
There are some young people who change phones every six months, some keep it for 24 months. Only about 5 per cent have two phones.
What’s been the response to your takeback programme?
Our takeback programme is for the whole industry; we believe that if you’re contributing to the planet, it can’t be a takeback programme only for your company or brand. So, if you’re talking about electronic waste, you can send back through a Nokia care centre or priority centres any phone, charger or battery and we will collect it and for doing that you get a reward. We bring it to Chennai and send it off to Singapore where it is recycled. All our phones are lead-free, solder-free and more than 75 per cent of the material is recycled.
What we find is that young people in the age group 15-35 are returning the phones; the older people just keep the phones at home and don’t bother about it while the younger people are more concerned about the future of the planet We are seeing that very clearly.
