MindTree to launch smartphone in US

MindTree is in talks with at least one major US carrier for the launch of its smartphone announced in April.

Mid-sized Indian IT services firm MindTree is looking to launch its 3G smartphone based on Google Inc8217;s Android platform in the United States in the second half of this fiscal year,and expects fiscal 2011 revenue to top the industry average,its CFO said.

8220;The official industry revenue this year as put out by Nasscom industry body is up 13-15 per cent and we believe we will exceed that,8221; Rostow Ravanan said.

The company,which posted revenue of Rs 12.33 billion 274.1 million in fiscal 2010,also expects this rise to boost margins.

MindTree is in talks with at least one major US carrier for the launch of its smartphone announced in April.

8220;The hottest prospects for the phone are in the US,followed by Latin America,Europe and Canada,8221; the CFO said.

Ravanan said the company is not currently looking to launch the phone in India.

8220;The Indian market place is a different thing 8230; we8217;re not branding the phone with a MindTree brand,8221; the CFO said.

Story continues below this ad

The smartphone market is currently dominated by industry players like Apple Inc8217;s latest iPhone,the BlackBerry from Research In Motion and Samsung Electronics Co8217;s Captivate.

8220;We expect the phone would realise for us somewhere in the region of 300 per phone,8221; Ravanan said.

The IT,knowledge and Ramp;D services firm,founded in 1999,also expects follow-on business to stem from its present contract with 8216;Aadhaar,8217; earlier known as the Unique Identification Project UID,the CFO said.

The Indian government project aims at providing a unique number to all citizens and creating and maintaining a database of residents.

Story continues below this ad

He expects to garner business from large telecom companies and banks looking to integrate their internal systems with the government project.

The company had received the first 8216;Aadhaar8217; contract for application development and maintenance services in June.

MindTree shares were up 1 per cent at Rs 507.10,Wednesday on the Bombay Stock Exchange,against the broader BSE index,which was down 1 per cent.