All set for second innings

Vaibhav Sharma

After making smartphones for years with the Symbian OS — Nseries and Eseries, not-so-well-known operating systems Maemo — N900, MeeGo/Harmattan — N9 and Windows Phone — Lumia, the time has finally come when you can buy an Android-powered Nokia. But to reach this point, the quintessential Nokia smartphone had to die a proverbial death, and was only resurrected under the HMD Global umbrella, when it acquired the rights to use the Nokia brand name for phones and accessories for the next 10years. In conversation, Ajey Mehta, VP, India HMD Global talks about the company’s India blueprint.

With the new Nokia lineup, the focus is on delivering a pure Android experience, and this is a key selling point for a lot of people. However, with more companies like Motorola, One Plus and even Xiaomi turning to vanilla Android, is this enticing enough?

Pure Android is in keeping with Nokia’s values of being user-friendly. We picked Android because we wanted to deliver a clean and clear experience to consumers. While there may be others who tread this route, we are the only brand that provides this experience across its entire portfolio and all price points. For example, we enable a Pixel-like experience with Nokia 3. It is also about updating the software. We believe that we can deliver the latest version of Android to the consumer in the fastest time.

Why do you think Android One, Google’s project to bring a clean Android experience to the budget line-up, didn’t take off? Was it because it was restricted to the low-end market or if it was an idea that was ahead of its time and Android wasn’t mature enough?

From an outsider’s perspective, maybe it was a mix of both factors. People thought it meant a low-cost Android, but in reality, it was the pure version of Android. What also confused buyers is the fact that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the market sold their own devices with their skins and ‘Android One’ phones together. While all this is conjecture, what we’re doing is communicating very clearly the benefits of Android and highlighting it as one of our unique features.

If someone buys a Nokia today, can that person be assured of continuous monthly updates?

Absolutely. All Nokia devices will be updated to Android Oreo by the end of the year. We promise two years of Android and monthly security updates for our devices.

Hardware has always been a strength of Nokia, but since a lot of the functionality nowadays is based on the Qualcomm or Mediatek chips that are easily available, is any room for differentiation left?

Our core strengths are design and craftsmanship. The whole idea is that we have a clear, simple design rooted in our Finnish heritage. We base our entire design story on consumer feedback, India being one of our most important markets. We put the consumer at the centre of everything we do. The other aspect is craftsmanship. We pay attention to quality of the materials. Nokia 6 is actually carved from a block of 6000 series aluminium. Similarly, the Nokia 8 goes through a 40-stage process of machining, anodising and polishing.

How strong is your India presence, considering a lot of the old Nokia-only stores have moved onto other brands?

We have a network of 450 distributors who serve over 80,000 retail outlets across the country. We have 370 customer care centres spread over 300 cities, and a 100 of those offers pick-up-and-drop services. However, since online is an important space to be in, we have also partnered with Amazon to exclusively sell the Nokia 6. 

The Nokia 3, 5 and 6 are already available in India, but when do you plan to launch Nokia 8?

We are looking at an October window, and working to price it very competitively for the Indian market.