Has Micromax caught the HTC bug?

Micromax is an Indian company which caught global major Nokia off-guard and launched a dual SIM phone onslaught. It gained great market share based on one single category. It took a while for Nokia to bounce back. I have admired Micromax for its interesting product line-up and innovative marketing. The company now seems to be floundering. Especially in its smartphone strategy.

HTC is known for its Lego block strategy. HTC has launched a large number of Android phones last year. HTC’s strategy has been just like the strategy of a four year old kid playing with Lego blocks. Keep the skeleton same and change the other blocks. For HTC, it’s keeping the processor  same and taking other features off or adding them. HTC Sensation, Sensation XE and Sensation XL is a very good example. This is what I call the HTC bug.

Now Micromax seems to have caught it.

Take a look at Micromax ‘Superfone’ category. Ignoring its dud of Superfone A85 which was quite expensive for a Micromax phone, there are Micromax Superfone A75, and Micromax Superfone A78, and Micromax Superfone A73.

Ignoring the subtle differences of the extra keypad or the camera, all the three phones sport the same 650 MHz processor, 3.5 inch capacitive touch screen, dual sim capacity, 1300 mAh battery, 0.3 MP front-camera, and 3 MP camera for 2 of the phones. To me that’s a whole lot of similarities for phones from the same company. The difference doesn’t add much value, except for may be the touch and type functionality of Micromax Superfone A78.

Micromax product line up will confuse the customers. It’s one thing if the consumer is confused with competing products from competing vendors. If the confusion comes from the competing products of the same vendor, the consumer would be even more confused and end up buying a competing product which is less confusing. Too much of a choice is a bad thing.

I recommend, The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar.

Samsung and HTC has already decided that they will be launching fewer phones and would be concentrating on flagship phones instead. Why is Micromax catching the fragmentation drift now?

What is Micromax trying to achieve here?

PS : Micromax, while you are re-thinking your strategy and finding a vaccine for your HTC bug, can you drop the Superfone moniker?

Image via Flickr user Staflo