Ex-Apple CEO John Sculley on the Obi Worldphone, India, Apple and more!

We spoke to ex-Apple CEO and Obi Worldphone co-founder and CEO John Sculley. During the chat, Sculley explained the rationale behind launching Android devices in the budget segment .

Last month, Obi Worldphone launched a couple of devices as part of its renewed efforts at tapping the Indian market. The SF1 and SJ 1.5 from Obi Worldphone is designed by Ammunition Design Group, a San Francisco-based design studio founded by Robert Brunner, who has been Apple’s design head in the past.

In an already crowded smartphone market, the budget segment makes it all about the price. Sculley shed some light on the rationale behind launching two budget Android smartphones. He said, “It’s worth noting that in growth markets such as China and India, consumers are moving from low bandwidth connections to high bandwidth connections. Besides, India is all set to account for 5 percent of LTE users in the world. Therefore, there’s a sizeable audience out there.”

According to Sculley, “In these markets (such as India), 70 percent of youth live in cities. Over 50 percent of users are below the age of 25.” He is quick to point that this means the audience has limited disposable income. “Most users want an Apple iPhone, but who has $800?” he adds. It’s definitely a hard hitting question.

When asked how he plans to cater to the market, he adds, “We would continue to work with partners. We aim to create more impact with improved user experience rather than focussing just on UI. We’re not planning any additional operating system.” In line with this thought, the Obi Worldphone priced under $200 offers 3000 mAh battery with 20 days of standby time, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, dual slim and supports CDMA as well as 2G, 3G, and 4G LTE GSM networks.

We wonder if Obi Worldphone would consider phablets in the future, given their prominence and rise in popularity. When we asked Sculley about it, he said, “Considering that phablets have been successful in China, we might take that as a sign. We could consider a phablet in the future.”

Regarding the operating system, it is quite interesting considering that most of the core team comes from Apple, yet the underlying operating system for Obi Worldphone devices is Android. Sharing his thoughts, Sculley adds, “To a certain extent, we are agnostic. However, we do need a good reason to change the primary operating system. So be it Windows or a custom OS, we need a good reason to make a switch.”

On Microsoft taking on the third spot among mobile operating systems, Sculley said, “I believe Microsoft is a much better run company today, as compared to three years ago.”

With reference to BlackBerry, Sculley added, “BlackBerry has been an interesting company. I have admired it, and I believe they have done some phenomenal work over the years.”

Finally, regarding availability of the Obi Worldphone in India, he said, “We expect the devices to be available in the Indian market after Diwali, and would tie up with e-commerce players for servicing and distribution.”

Essentially, Obi Worldphone will pass on supply, distribution and servicing to e-commerce players such as Amazon or Flipkart. Through the conversation, Sculley stressed that Obi Worldphone would continue to be a design-led company, just like Apple is. And instead of releasing devices in quick cycles, Obi Worldphone would release a product only when the design team has given them a go ahead. It indeed is refreshing to see a design-based approach by a company for its devices within the budget segment.