LeEco eyes a spot among the top 3 mobile players in India

2016 witnessed a new entrant in the Indian smartphone market. LeTV, now known as LeEco, entered India with the launch of its Le 1s and Le Max smartphones on 20 January in Gurgaon. In an already crowded smartphone market, what did get our attention was the approach it took to foray into the Indian market. Unlike Xiaomi, which despite having a wide portfolio of devices in China, has focussed its attention on the smartphone range – Mi and Redmi – with a couple of accessories such as LED lights, headphones and battery banks. LeTV on the other hand began with smartphones, but looks forward to launching ‘all products under its portfolio in India,’ according to key personnel at LeEco. In addition to smartphones, LeEco manufactures smart televisions, and also smart bicycles and has interests in smart cars. LeEco could also be referred to as the Netflix of China, which interests from content streaming to film production in China. Now that LeEco has launched in India, the company has already announced 555 service centres to answer the concerns consumers have around any new device manufacturer looking to set up shop in India. During the launch of the LeEco smartphones in India, Atul Jain, COO of Smart Electronic Business, LeEco revealed that the company’s plan was to be among the top 3 mobile smartphone players in India. That effectively means in terms of device shipments, it looks forward to rubbing shoulders with companies of the likes of Samsung, Micromax and Intex. In addition, LeEco is contemplating Make in India plans. Jain said, “We have been thinking about these plans, and in the direction of Make in India, but it would be too early to discuss at this point in time.” Since the Indian market has a deep interest in movie content, Jain added that if the Indian market has a great affinity for Hollywood, LeEco would work towards getting more Hollywood titles in its content pool. Among the other prominent announcements made by LeEco was setting up of a 1000-member strong R&D centre in Bangalore. A lot of the technology used in LeEco devices would be produced by the R&D team from Bangalore. On being asked about software updates for the devices it has launched in India, Jain added that the Le 1s and Le Max should get updated to Marshmallow by March or April 2016.