The future is Mobile?

Brand Equity (Economic Times) came out with its annual list of India’s Most Trusted Brands today. While brands like Colgate, Vicks and Lux took the top 3 positions – the interesting aspect was seeing the rise of mobile related brands.

Nokia featured as the 4th most trusted brand in India. Here’s a handset company which was Ranked No. 71 back in 2004. As Brand Equity puts it – Nokia has become synonymous with the rise of mobile telephony in the country. It’s been part of the Mobile Revolution seen in India in the last few years.

But what’s the future?
The future I feel is going to be the amalgamation of Mobile and the Internet. GPRS services are bound to get more and more popular and 3G is coming soon…

Internet brands were non-existent in the Top 100 list and that is primarily due to the low internet penetration. It would be un-imaginable to have a similar survey in the US without Google, Microsoft, Yahoo etc featuring in the Top 10.

But it’s just a matter of time before Indian companies like Rediff, Naukri, Shaadi and BharatMatrimony make it to this list – because they have definitely become big brands in the online scene.

Coming back to the Mobile scene -
Motorola has been the highest gainer in this year’s survey, jumping from 180 last year to 101 this year.
There are 4 other Mobile related brands (Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Airtel, Samsung Mobile) in the list of Top 10 gainers of the year.

Airtel, Reliance Mobile, BPL, Tata Indicom and LG Mobile all feature in the list of top 100 brands too.

BE calls this as the FMCG-isation of the mobile market.

“India is not one market, but many markets of different complexities and dynamics,” says Keith Pardy, Nokia Worldwides’s Senior Vice-President, strategic marketing. He adds that Nokia has to meet the needs of consumers across the spectrum – be it the demand for high tech products like Nokia N Series of the importance of durability and affordability for people living in more remote areas.

India is currently the third largest market in term of volume and there is still bigger potential in areas like mobility and internet.

Indian GSM mobile phone service providers signing up around 5-6 million customer each month.

Mobile Internet is still in its infancy, but is definitely catching up. Social Networks are going mobile, Retail has gone mobile, Local Search via your phone is the next big thing, even job and matrimony sites are going mobile – all in all, the future is definitely mobile. More and more Indians are getting connected each passing minute…

Via – Economic Times