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In the mobile phone game, one brand immediately comes to mind: Nokia . They have been around for over a decade and their phones are sold in virtually every corner of the world. Having shipped over a billion mobile phones over the years, from the legendary 3310 to the latest Lumia range, Nokia are one of the oldest players in the market. One of their biggest markets is India. Nokia India is their Indian branch, and one of the most successful in terms of sales. Recently, Anirvan Ghosh of Forbes India interviewed former Managing Director and current Senior VP of Sales for Nokia India, Mr. D Shivakumar. Here are some interesting facts we picked up from the interview . An IIT Madras and IIM Kolkata graduate, Shivakumar joined Nokia India 6 years ago, in 2006. Before that, he headed consumer electronics at Philips and also did a stint in Hindustan Levers. Changing Handset Market Since Joining Nokia In 2006 The biggest change Shivakumar sees in the handset market today, as compared to 2006, is the subscriber base. Back then there were around 100 million subscribers. Now, there are over 600 million subscribers. The telecom ecosystem has achieved such massive growth and he commended the Government for facilitating that. Also, the proliferation of Dual SIM phones and phones by local manufacturers is something that was not around 6 years ago. Another big change was the market moving from a feature phone market with a few smartphones , to a market full of smartphones. After Nokia’s N Series started in 2007, smartphones became more talked about and nowadays smartphones and apps are used by almost everyone having a mid to high end phone. In his words, “The consumer fascination with the mobile phone hasn’t changed. The looks of the phone and the desire for the next innovation continue to be strong. A cellphone is an integral part of the Indian consumer’s life and will be so for many years.” Downward Spiralling Tariffs And Where He Sees The Market Heading In Coming Years According to Shivakumar, the main reason for the popularity of Dual SIM handsets was that the consumer saw the difference in tariffs of various service providers for various functions like SMS, Callling and Mobile Internet. He admitted that Nokia was late to enter the Dual SIM market, but now have it standard across its low end phones. The Telecom Industry has gone from a 5 Operator Industry to a 17 Operator Industry. This has greatly hurt profitability. He believes the industry must work collaboratively to get back pricing premium and create value. In the future, more and more feature phones will be replaced by smartphones. Services like 3G and Internet will play a significant role in purchase of handsets. Also, Mobile related banking, education, health and entertainment services will become more mainstream. What do you think of D. Shivakumar’s vision of Indian’s future of the mobile handset? Do let us know in the comments below. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency