Earlier this week, Microsoft reportedly offered the Windows Phone operating system to leading Indian mobile manufacturers, Lava and Karbonn Mobiles, without charging any licensing fees. Today, both companies announced that they will be releasing Windows Phone-based handsets in the coming few months. Also, noteworthy is the fact that both companies will be releasing easily affordable smartphones.
Karbonn Managing Director, Pradeep Jain, said that the company will be launching four different Windows Phone powered mobiles. These devices will be priced between Rs. 6000 to Rs. 12000. ($100-$200). “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,” he stated.
Whereas Lava, which although didn’t reveal the number of models it has planned, stated that its phones will be priced between Rs. 6500-Rs. 8500 ($105 – $140). “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,” said Hari Om Rai, CEO, Lava International.
Both companies seem to be very committed to Windows Phone OS. “We expect the Windows-based phones to represent 8-10% volume of Lava smartphones starting July-August time- frame,” Rai added.
“We at Xolo believe that Windows OS has certain goodness to offer for a certain market segment and it will help Xolo reach a desired 15% share of the smartphone market by end of 2014,” a Xolo spokesperson said.
Lava phones however, will be sporting a rather low powered Snapdragon 200 processor, but will still be running Windows Phone 8. Interestingly, by the time the phones will be released, Windows Phone 8.1 would already have been launched for quite a while.
As of now, the cheapest Windows Powered phone device, the Nokia Lumia 520, is selling for around $130. Both Xolo (Lava) and Karbonn have sought to bring cheaper Windows Phone mobiles in the market. This will definitely help Windows Phone to get more traction, and allure more mobile partners.