Infinix, formerly known as Sagem is a smattphone and tablet manufacturing company that currently has 6 market locations which are France, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
Currently, Infinix have permeated the Nigerian market well enough alongside Tecno and are becoming a force to be reckoned with in the Nigerian smartphone market.
Furthermore, their 3 mobile devices product line are Tablet, Smartphone and a Phablet. The latest and flagship phablet is the 5.7 inch Infinix Alpha which is already pulling weight and bringing in the cash daily. However, the competition is ever strong especially from the likes of Tecno-Mobile, Samsung and HTC who are currently controlling a good amount of market share on the Nigeria smartphone industry.
So, what can Infinix do to further increase their fan base and market share?
1. Create more products with good specifications and features. This is of course already on ground and its the reason they are still in business . An attempt to release a device with old technology and specs has highly damaging effects and very difficult to recover from.
Consequently, there is no room to lag behind in delivering latest OS and features in their devices if Infinix must continue to grow and win buyers to their side.
2. OTA software updates which is an acronym for Over The Air cannot be overlooked.
While this is not a deal breaker for some, it is for others. Usually, smartphone savvy peeps care a lot about the ability to upgrade the operating system of their device if it becomes available and Nigerians are actually savvy.
Currently, only Samsung and HTC are the Nigerian smartphone players that gives such luxury of having OTA software upgrades in the Nigerian smartphone market.
Tecno and Infinix devices do not have such ability for OTA OS upgrades and that could set Infinix apart from Tecno - Mobile if they start offering OTA OS updates.
Already, the cloud section of Infinix website suggests that such ability is already in the works and will be available to their customer soon enough.
From a scale of 1 - 10, the chances of increasing their user base if OTA updates becomes available to Infinix devices would be 7, apparently meaning that they have gained more followers to themselves and this would be a deal breaker for those that that plan to get a Tecno device.
3. Serious branding is a powerful tool that cannot be over emphasized.
A higher percentage of the Nigerian folks believe that this Infinix device is a Chinese substandard product and would rather shell out more cash to purchase phones from Samsung, Nokia and HTC even if they cost more and perform the same function with any Infinix device.
This is where branding and marketing comes to play. Infinix must re-orientate and change that perception to fully grasp the attention new, existing and target customers. In other to soak into them like sponge, that perception need to be changed and used to their advantage. No room for weakness .
4. Finally, impatience can wreck any person, company or government and smartphone companies are not an exception.
Even though it looks as though Samsung is not caring so much about their Nigerian market as to reply to any threat they face there, it should be noted that attempt to out-do Samsung in some areas would be met with stiff reply that can bounce.
Yes, the price has to be competitive, features and specs should be recent and above industry standard but trying to introduce some gangstar features found in latest Samsung devices may drive up cost and invariably scare away the mostly middle class people that see Infinx as an excellent alternative to high priced Samsung devices. Once these buyers use the infinix product and are satisfied, they become a fan and may never return to Samsung product even if Infinix devices becomes pocket tearing in the future.
In conclusion, Infinix has a bright future in the smartphone industry if they can keep doing what they do best. These are my arguments supported by rational thinking and understanding of the modern smartphone industry and I totally believe that Inifinx with constant innovation can become a strong force not only in the Nigerian smartphone market but in other areas they operate just like Samsung and the rest.
