Samsung wants 18 per cent of the mobile market share by 2008

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.