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Journalism of Courage
As Micromax Mobiles CEO Vineet Taneja announced the price of the company’s new flagship, the Micromax Canvas Sliver 5, there was silence in the hall packed with journalists who are usually hard to keep quiet. The oohs and aahs that reverberated across the packed hall just minutes back when Taneja showed off the super slim phone had suddenly fallen silent. It was as if the crowd was waiting for Taneja to flip the screen that showed Rs 17,999 and show another one that had a much lower price. These kind of theatrics have almost become the norm and journalists are creatures of habit.
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But there was no price cut. What we saw is what we got. The phone, the super slim and light phone that it was, also had a very heavy price tag. You would have expected Micromax, which literally has its ears to the ground across the country, to know better. This is the mid-range, where you need to give much more bang for the buck. And despite its great design that would be what will sell the phone.
TAP FOR FIRST LOOK: World’s slimmest phone
Now, however, the phone has a 720p HD screen and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 process, both of which will put off buyers who have better options in this price range. The 16GB ROM, with no expandable memory — a sacrifice you have to make to create any super slim phone — could also worry some buyers. So while this phone will not enthuse power users much, it will be on the radar of those who like style and design.
But Micromax seems to be clearly looking beyond India with this phone. That is clearly why you would go for a feature or two which no one else has. Of course, world’s slimmest phone — even though it is a technicality — written on the hoardings will help sell your phones across markets. And in the past couple of years, Micromax has been venturing into newer markets and geographies like Middle East and Russia. There it could compete with the like of Gionee and Oppo on the thickness, or lack of it, of the phone.
And of course, it has Hugh Jackman to sell the phones across the world. This mix might just work in its favour. And let us not forget that Micromax is also the tenth largest handset maker in the world at the moment. That is not a tag to be easily brushed off.
Given that most of these markets don’t really offer the kind of choice that is available in India or China, Micromax could do well despite the value for money quotient not being that high. That just could be Sliver 5’s silver lining.
