MP3 phones are music to cell makers' ears

As cell phones, computers and broadband connectivity become part of the lives of Indian yuppies, cell phone manufacturers are seeing a surge in demand for mobiles with features for listening to personalised music.

Cell phones that allow users to download and store music to play at any convenient time have been around in the Indian market for over a year, but they have become a great fancy for the young generation, over the last six months or so.

Affirming that the entertainment features in mobile phones"" MP3 feature/ video and radio - are certainly growing in popularity with Indian consumers, Asim Warsi , AGM (Marketing ), Samsung Mobile Business says, "The market contribution of phones with entertainment options (MP3/ FM/ radio) has doubled over the past one year and would be around 25 per cent at present, of which, the contribution to sales from the MP3 phones would be around 10 per cent to the industry."

There are many reasons that have contributed to the popularity of MP3 phones. While some manufacturers have launched lower-end models with external storage devices, others are catering to the upmarket consumer demand with higher-end models for optimised performance.

For instance, the latest LG MP3 phone gives the consumers the freedom to download and store music on detachable cards. A user can buy a storage card with a capacity of 256 megabytes for Rs 1,000 and store up to 50 songs or a card with 512 megabytes capacity for Rs 2,000 and store either 100 songs or one hour video.

"The demand for the music-enabled phones or MP3 phones has increased due to affordability and flexibility to buy external storage device," said K K Kushwaha, vice-president (LG CDMA).

"We had launched our first MP3 phones in September 2005, but with the launch of the RD 6230 CDMA in the span of one month in January we sold 25-30,000 units. Almost 50 per cent of our customers have returned with inquiry for SD cards."

Mobile phones major Nokia is also up-beat over the handsets with MP3 and other entertainment options, says Gautam Advani, director (Multimedia), Nokia India.

"We have over 20 models offering MP3 as of date at various price points," he said, adding that the penetration levels of mobile phones in India is higher than that of computers, and mobile phones work as computers now. "Some of these models do not even require a computer interface to download music," he said.

With the trend moving from camera, to MMS and now music play, "In the next six months it will be video downloading/ streaming that catches on," says Kushwaha.

Noting that the trend is still limited to the tier I and tier II cities, Kushwaha said, "MP3 phones are a rage in tier I IT cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore and also becoming popular in tier II cities like Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad."

He adds, "Mp3 is a new attracting the generation Y." However, stresses Advani, "The Indians' love for music is all pervasive. Bollywood, music and food are hot buttons driving the Indian consumer. MP3 phones will become a rage similar to the way camera phones are today."

Not surprisingly, all the majors have lined up a slew of offerings. LG is planning on launching three news phones with MP3 offerings this quarter itself.

Nokia too expects music to become a serious feature this year and preparing to launch three models this year. This includes a N91, an expert music phone which will have an optimised keypad with forward/ rewind and other options hitting the markets by March.