New Delhi, Oct 5: Samsung Electronics on Tuesday made a formal entry into the GSM mobile phone market with the launch of one of its top selling model SGH-600. Announcing the launch here, Samsung Electronics Co managing director for India operations K S Kim said, the company hoped to capture at least 50 per cent market share in the high-end mobile phone market by 2001.The second model in the line up for the country--SGH-800--will be launched in December 1999. The company has drawn up plans into introduce five models of high-end mobile phones within six months.
Kim added that the company expected to sell about 50,000 units of the handset during 2000. ``At present we are testing the market,'' he added. The company expects the cell phone market to boom once the call party pays (CPP) system comes into effect on November 1.
Samsung has tied up with Mobiphone Network (India) for distribution and post-sales service of the phones. It is also expected to tie up with several cellular service providers for bundling the phone with airtime. The SGH-600 is priced at Rs 21,500 in the market, though the same handsets are available in the grey market for Rs 13,000-14,000 each.
A standard package of the handset supports features such as voice dialling, hands free microphone, vibratory alert and a high quality graphic LCD that conveys the operations status of the handset through images. Other features of the 97 gram handset include voice dialling for frequently called numbers and EasyGSM function that connects the handset to a PC for functions like updating the phone book or organising a short message.
The phones come with 12-month warranty for the main unit and six months warranty for batteries and accessories.
Meanwhile, Samsung has won received a contract for supply of code division multiple access (CDMA) handsets from MTNL.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.