Hyve looks at Apple-like service to sell smartphones

Hyve Mobile, a mobility start-up and brainchild of former Apple executive Sharad Mehrotra, is looking at innovations on the after-sales service front. By bringing Apple-like service to the Android world, Hyve is looking to score on the untapped repeat-buyer market in India's affordable smartphone segment.

"We're really not into the game of the Rs 3,000 smartphone, and from an Android perspective a Rs 15,000 phone is almost a premium device. If you go down the price range, you have to make a lot of compromises which we've never wanted," said Sharad Mehrotra, co-founder and chief executive at Hyve Mobile.

With an aim to sell one million devices in its first year of operation, the company will unveil its first two devices - one priced at around Rs 9,000 and the other at Rs 15,000 - in mid-May.