Optiemus bets on 'Kult' to take on smartphone rivals in India

New Delhi: Noida-based Optiemus Infracom on Friday announced the launch of a new handset brand 'Kult' that will compete with the likes of Samsung, Xiaomi and Lenovo in the burgeoning Indian smartphone market.

The company, which has the rights to manufacture and distribute BlackBerry devices for the Indian market, will launch 4-5 models in the affordable category.

"We plan to launch 4-5 models in the next two quarters. We will focus on the Rs 6,000-10,000 category that is witnessing the highest rates of growth," Optiemus Infracom Executive Director Hardip Singh said.

He added that these devices will be launched exclusively with e-commerce major Amazon.In and the company has no plans to sell offline as of now, unlike some of its competitors.

Singh, however, declined to comment on any investment details related to marketing and promotions.

"We have been in the manufacturing business for a long time. We believe our devices come with the right proposition in terms of specifications at a great price. And we are backing it up with 900 service points to ensure a good customer experience," he said.

Singh said the devices will be manufactured at the company's existing facilities in the country.

India is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets globally. While Samsung continues to dominate the market, Chinese players like Lenovo, Xiaomi and Vivo have aggressively eaten into the market share of domestic players like Micromax and Lava.

According to industry watchers, the handset market in China is moving towards saturation and India is the next big frontier.

In the past few weeks, newer brands like Comio, Voto Mobiles and Infinix have announced their entry into the market here.

Kult's first device- Beyond- will be priced at Rs 6,999 and will go on sale from August 18. It features a 5.2- inch display, 3GB RAM, 32 GB internal memory (expandable up to 32GB), 13MP rear and front cameras and 3,000 mAh battery.

It has a fingerprint sensor and supports 3 slots- 2 micro SIM slots and one micro memory chip slot.