Lava launches unbreakable phone handset A16

Handset manufacture Lava mobiles on Thursday launched its unbreakable series phone A16 which can withstand an impact of 120 kg and is priced in the range of ₹4,000-5,000.

The phone has been launched with youth television channel MTV, which provided its inputs for the style and design.

'As a strategy, the phone is targeted to capture the fast growing youth market. This is a niche phone product for us,' Sunil Raina, chief marketing officer of Lava mobile, told IANS.

According to Raina, the phone was developed at a cost of $4.5 million at the company's research and development facility in China.

'The software component has been sourced from India, but the physical structure and styling has been developed at our R&D centre in China in a period of seven months,' Raina said.

The phone is enabled with a 3.2 megapixel camera coupled with a 2.6-inch high resolution screen and social media applications which allow the user to connect to Facebook.

The phone is equipped with additional privacy settings that allow the user to lock SMSes and pictures.

The company said it expected sales to be around five-six lakh units in the January-March quarter, as the overall segment has an annual growth of 20-25 percent.

'Overall, we expect the sale to be around 1.5 million for the next three quarters. For the next quarter it should be around five-six lakh units,' he said.

The phone would be imported from the company's facility in China, though the firm said it was scouting for a location to set up a manufacturing plant in India.

'We are currently in an exploratory stage here, we are looking at sites where there is going to be or is component investment,' he said.

The company said that it will launch another product in association with MTV by the end of the next quarter.

'Going forward we will launch another phone with MTV. Currently there is no revenue sharing between us, just mutual benefits arising out of individual strengthens. But going forward there may be some sought of revenue sharing arrangement,' Raina said.

Raina added that the company will scout for adding bundled deals with mobile service operators for its tablets which were expected to come out in the next quarter.

The tablet was expected to be priced around ₹5,000-6,000 per unit.