In the wake of Chinese smartphone makers including Xiaomi, Huawei, ZTE and Gionee offering classy devices at competitive prices, Micromax unveiled 10,000 local apps to woo users.
In a bid to connect with the masses, Indian smartphone maker Micromax unveiled ten thousand apps in local language. One of India's largest domestic mobile handsets company, Micromax is now the first handset manufacturer in India to introduce such a wide range of apps in local languages.
The company also offers translation and transliteration while messaging.
Micromax deployed a patented Swipe Technology from MoFirst Solution that translates and transliterates messages in 10 local languages including Hindi to English, and English to Hindi, with just a swipe. The service comes with MoFirst's Android-based regional language OS Firstouch.
But that's not all, Micromax also provided access to App Bazar along with such apps. The App Bazar features some of the most popular apps including Skype, Clean Master and many others in 10 local languages including Marathi and Tamil, which cover 800 million people in India, according to reports on Business Insider.
Micromax's chief marketing officer Shubhajit Sen told the Economic Times that the company is expecting nearly 80 to 100 million new users to come on board the smartphone market in India, thus getting the language piece right is extremely important.
Micromax wanted to establish itself in India's crowded market in the wake of its market share declining as opposed to Chinese smartphones in recent months.
India's No. 2 handset maker, Micromax launched Canvas Unite 3 earlier this month priced at Rs. 6,999. The Unite 3 features Firstouch's local language suite, targeting those smartphone users who are not well-versed with English.
Talking about the Unite 3, Sen admitted that it is a very strategic model for the company. Sen added that Micromax will go a step ahead with translation and transliteration, and work with them across all Micromax's phones for the language support.
In order to increase the number of apps, Micromax has established an association with Sony Music, Zapak, Disney, EA Games, Gameloft and Microsoft. The popular handset maker is also set to begin a 360-degree advertising campaign in this month to promote the device. The device is available on e-tailers Flipkart and Snapdeal between Rs. 6,700 and Rs. 7,100.
According to Counterpoint Research, Micromax had a 15.3 percent share of the smartphone market at the end of March, which marks a sharp decline from 19.5 percent in the previous quarter.
