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New Delhi:
Consumer durable company Samsung has set out to secure 18 per cent of the mobile
market by 2008, in the process trying to treble its existing share. It plans to
become the number two player in India, and has 500 plus retail outlets on its
drawing board to push sales. According
to head of marketing for Samsung Mobile, Asim Warsi, the company will have 500
retail outlets, 200 of whom will be "privilege partners", and 300 shop-in-shop.
2008 will be marked by brand promotions and and retail marketing. An
18 per cent market share would mean sales of about 10 million handsets. Samsung
has a manufacturing facility at Manesar in Haryana, which has a capacity of a
million phones that is being ramped up to 1.5 million phones. The company plans
to attain its target through a mix of domestic production and imports. Presently,
Samsung ranks fourth in market share, behind Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson.
If it manages to secure the 18 per cent share it desires, it would be in the second
position just behind Finnish giant Nokia. Samsung
is planning to launch at least 20 new models in 2008, having already launched
some this year. The company had earlier phased out black-and-white handsets some
time ago, and had planned to be present only in the mid and high-end segments. However,
to cater to demand from rural India, the company has a model starting at Rs1,900.
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