This ex-Apple exec wants to bring back ‘basic hygiene’ into India's smartphone ecosystem

Sharad Mehrotra was iPhone maker Apple's enterprise mobility head in India. He’s quit his ‘cushy job’, and will launch a smartphone company in the world's fastest-growing smartphone market on June 15.

Mehrotra has been with Apple India since October 2007, and only recently co-founded Hyve Mobility with Aditya Agarwal, who heads Euphoria and 4 Genius Minds. The company is targeting the Rs 15,000-20,000 segment with a flagship model.

With close to 18 years of experience across the business development, marketing and retail from the likes of Apple and India's top telco Bharti Airtel, Mehrotra is looking to bring back ‘basic hygiene’ into the Indian smartphone market.

Why get into the smartphone business?
It’s a crowded market, yes, but the smartphone penetration in India is still not great. It’s growing double digits quarter-on-quarter, so there’s a huge opportunity. There are gaps in the product portfolio unfortunately, service being one that we’d like to address.

Most smartphone manufacturers are doing a lot of advertising, however not many are focusing on the convenience of the customer or what features or tech is really needed for customer delight.

With the value proposition on offer, we’ll have our own niche.

Is it feasible to offer extensive after-sales support to budget smartphones?
It’s not a question of whether they want it, but whether they deserve it. Anybody paying the money deserves convenience and delight. That’s basic hygiene.

Are you making money off hardware?
We’re not in the business of losing money.

However, while several phone manufacturing companies and third-party players make money off bloatware and skinning, we won’t do that in the lieu of sacrificing delight. Ours is a stock Android.

Manufacturing plans.
Design and R&D is in-house. We’ve patented the technologies. We have carefully chosen the brand of component. The assembly happens in China, but in a very controlled manner. There is no ‘thappa’ business here.

Quality control
Quality suffers because of lack of quality components or optimization. It’s unfortunate because Android is an open market, people play around with it. We’re extremely sensitive about this.

For instance, 13 MP + 5MP is standard for camera. However, there are people who put a 8 MP lens and zoom in through software so it looks like 13 MP. Also, the sensor makes a difference. We’re ensuring the best brand for the price.