The Mi-Fone Mi-Q series, a smartphone for the masses

Posted on 29. May, 2010 by Nana Kwabena Owusu in Unwired

Mi-Fone is a mobile handset manufacturer (headquarters in UAE) which has Africa and other emerging markets as its primary target market. Mi-Fone previously primarily made durable yet stylish feature phones for mass market consumers. It just recently aggressively launched the Mi-Q series of handsets which is its entry into the QWERTY messaging handset market.

With this range, Mi-Fone aims use QWERTY handsets which leverage email, instant messaging and document management to penetrate the mass market in countries it operates (15 African countries and India) and to especially appeal to a younger demographic as a BlackBerry alternative.

According to TechTree an Indian website, “All three phones share the same dimensions and boast of a 5-hour talk time, a standby time of 360 hours and a 1000Mah battery. The screen is a 2.2-inch, 65k colour screen with a resolution of 220×176“.

Basic: Mi-Q+ with GPRS Class 10, WAP 2.0, MMS, FM radio, a torchlight, QWERTY keypad for faster SMS. ( Approx. Retail Price: GHC 75.00 )

Medium: Dual-Sim Mi-Q1 has GPRS/WAP/MMS, MP3/Video capabilities, 1GB Memory. (Approx Price: GHC 105.00)

High End: Mi-Q5 comes with all of the above, plus Bluetooth, Memory Card Slot, Java applications including Mi-Fone’s new MI-APPS (IM, Push Email, Social Apps). Optional Analogue television. (Approx. Price: GHC 125.00)

(Note: Prices converted from India Rupees (INR): 2,500, 3,399 and 3,999)

I have to say I love how this African phone manufacturer has so much spunk that it wants to take on what it sees as the predominately popular smartphone platform (right or wrong) in Africa, BlackBerry. In fact, their ad campaign tagline, “The darker the Berry, the sweeter the juice” is stuck in my head like an infectious tune which will not go away. They leave no doubt whose market share they want to attack (more on that later). Personally though I think the since the Mi-Q devices are better defined as QWERTY messaging handsets than smartphone, the ‘fight’ is a bit moot.

However my ‘love’ for the ad campaign does not prevent me from stating what I believe may be ‘issues’ worth discussing as Mi-Fone grinds away to capture significant market shares.

1. BlackBerry: The Platform to beat?

I have my reservations about Mi-Fone choosing RIM’s BlackBerry as the platform (and its not because I love my BB) whose market share they want to cannibalize. My gut feeling is that Nokia has a far bigger share of the market and that getting market share from Nokia might be easier. Nokia seems to have lost lost its shine in the minds of consumers and Symbian is not exactly abuzz on tech blogs, consumer reviews, although it must be noted, they are still very popular in retail shops.

After doing some research, my gut got all messed up from all the numbers out there, so lets go with numbers from Gartner number and this good comprehensive review of the market. It is a fact that Nokia rules the world (and consequently Africa) and that BlackBerry has a far smaller market share worldwide but this is fast increasing in specific markets in Africa and other developing countries.

This brings out a dilemma which requires one of two decisions to be made. Nokia has a huge market share and therefore there is more to be gained but Nokia has increased its move towards lower cost QWERTY handsets with an aggressive pricing campaign. These would be direct competitors to Mi-Fine both in form, function and price. RIM has a good market share which seems to be increasing but is a ‘premium’ brand which can be competed against using a lower cost handset in Africa which is predominantly a mass market economy. However BlackBerry has a strong brand as a lifestyle choice and strong carrier support in several markets which means Mi-Fone has work to do replacing it.

It seems Mi-Fone has adopted the latter strategy and it may or may not pay off but I assume they have done way more research than I did and going after BlackBerry rather than Nokia may be right.

2. The App Platform:

Mi-Fone has banked its success on its pseudo app platform they call MI-APPS, which includes a strategy to license it out to other low cost device manufacturers.

Mi-Apps’ purpose is to provide useful and innovative mobile applications for Mi-Fone’s low cost handsets to both GSM carriers and corporate enterprises. Initially Mi-Apps will launch via JAVA enabled handsets, but later versions will work with non JAVA handsets, keeping in mind the needs of the mass markets.

In version 1 we are bringing Pushmail, Instant Messenger, and a couple of localized relevant SMS apps. Version 2 will incorporate Facebook lite and others

MI-APPS seems like a very good initiative to create an app store for Mi-Fone and other low cost manufacturers for Java apps but they will have to do it really really better to beat the gorillas in Java apps like GetJar. However it feels like MI-APPS may have a proprietary component although I have my doubts since that would restrict app development initially to only Mi-Fone or its really close partners, which is how Palm WebOS missed the boat. However a few apps done exceptionally well may jumpstart the MI-APPS development bandwagon.

My personal thought is that a more stronger strategy might have been to adopt Android (say Android 1.6 to keep hardware requirements lower), which would have opened the possible apps up from a few to thousands. Android also has a strong community of developers and this would have increased the incentive for others to get on it.

My last thoughts are that Mi-Fone is building a really strong African brand geared towards the mass market and the strategy for their Mi-Q series ( a lifestyle choice) seems to be well thought out and despite some reservations, I love it.

If its time to drink the sweeter juice, then Become a Fan of Mi-Fone Ghana.

Tags: africa, blackberry, handsets, mass market, mi-apps, Mi-Fone, Mi-Q, mobile, smartphones, strategy