Monday, April 14, 2008
Made to order phone
With research showing that consumers use less than 80% of the features that come pre-packaged in their phone, the rise in startups dedicated to creating made-to-order phones will surely rise. For example, US-based zzzPhone is already making GSM phones on demand. This seems to be the beginning of an important trend in mobile handset design and development. Should the Mobile Consumer Lab incubate a new business in this area? Your comments would be highly appreciated!
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The made to order phone sounds like a great idea and may have its market space in the future if brand is managed carefully. Though, there are a few core values of the product itself which the vendor need to work on.
ReplyDeleteOn thing, I believe they need to work on quality of the product. The first impression I have about this made to order phones is that it is made in China and the web present does not look very great. Maybe, they can first work on the website zzzPhone.com improvement in both user interface as well as images. Secondly, they need to ensure material used in production can match with those well know brand as such Nokia or Sony-Ericson.
Another thing is the guarantee. I think the one year guarantee seems to be too short given the price. Although it might be risky at first, I think it will boost a lot of customer confident. In long run, they can benefit from a high influx of order that can cover this cost eventually.
Looking from entrepreneur perspective, I believe made to order phone shows some market potential. I think not many people knows about this product; thus, I can capitalize this opportunity in my country - Laos. Though, the first think I will work on is to ensure the product return procedure is smooth while product support is solid. Next, I would make the product appeal to consumer as a quality phone. To do that I need to invest on marketing and media communication. There are a lot of things need to be done around brand development.
In conclusion, made to order phones are here to stay and there are a lot of market opportunities in Laos. However, there are numbers of issues we need to work on such as product quality and brand appeals. I think, with the right marketing approach and brand management the made to order phone can be a great success.