Karbonn and Lava are two low-cost brands in India competing for the smartphone market share along with Micromax and others. According to a report from PTI, Karbonn and Lava might launch smartphones running Windows Phone 8 in the coming months. HTC, Samsung, Nokia, ZTE and Huawei are already releasing Windows Phone based smartphones, and now these two companies will join the Windows Phone platform. This is significant for the Microsoft as both are low-cost brands and release smartphones in the sub 10k range that will help Microsoft to increase the Windows Phone market share as the sales of devices will be higher in this price range.
Karbonn is expected to launch Windows Phone ranging from Rs 6,000 – 12,000 and Lava’s pricing starts from Rs 6,500 according to reports. “We will come out with four devices with Windows-based operating system by the end of May or starting of June in the price range of 6,000-12,000,” said Karbonn Managing Director Pradeep Jain.
Lava International CEO and MD Hari Om Rai said: “A series of Windows-based phones will be launched under the Lava brand by July. These will be priced in the range of Rs 6,500-8,500.” He added that these phones will be based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor and will feature Windows Phone 8 platform.
Lava also makes Xolo brand of slightly premium phones in India, Xolo is also expected to launch Windows Phone based smartphones, there is no time-line given for the Xolo’s Windows Phones but they are expected sometime in the next quarter. Xolo is expecting a 15 percent of the smartphone market share by the end of this year and launch of Windows Phone might make this possible according to Xolo.
