A few months ago, when the Chinese troops escalated the matter in the Himalayas, there was a popular demand among Indians for ‘Made in India’ smartphones which could compete with popular Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, RealMe, and Oneplus. Some users even asked the brands like Micromax, Lava- which had earlier a significant market share but were killed by the entry of Chinese players- to come up with Indian alternatives to low-cost Chinese smartphones.
Capitalizing on the opportunity, Micromax launched ‘In series’, the first of which was ‘In Note 1’, and this met with a grand success. All of the ready-to-sell units of the company were sold by the company only within a few days of its initial release despite a vehement campaign against it by the competitors in mainstream media and on social media.
The established Chinese companies which have a long-standing relationship with tech products reviewers in mainstream media and on YouTube channels paid a hefty amount- the business model of the tech reviewers is well known- to them to write negative reviews of the newly released Micromax smartphones. These companies also ran a campaign against Micromax on social media, where many users were tweeting about faults in the newly released phone, without tagging the company or giving any additional information, so that the company can’t look into the issues.
I hope #Micromax is problem ko OTA update se solve kar dega ………..!! pic.twitter.com/Rt0wBbJFdi
— Rakesh (@GyanTherapy) November 26, 2020
Was just checking out my IN Note from the edges and as you can see, the display panel is not aligned with the frame. Showing you a close up of the right bottom side and the left one. There’s a gap with glue visible here. A pic.twitter.com/PUZP0jN1Xa
— Nimit (@gizmoddict) November 26, 2020
Given the fact, Micromax is hyperactive on social media, and after all the units were sold the company replied to almost everyone who made an enquiry, one cannot claim that their issues would go unresolved had they tagged the company’s Twitter handle.
Hi, Aashish. Most of the components have been sourced in India but there are still a few parts that are being sourced from other countries. We are working hard to ensure that we source as much locally as possible and in the next few months, you will see that. Thanks :)
— IN by Micromax #INNote1 (@Micromax__India) December 2, 2020
However, given the fact that all of the company’s ready-to-sale units were sold within a few days, one can say that the vehement media campaign against the company by the paid Chinese stooges might have delayed the sales, but it could not stop the company from succeeding among the target audience.
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The business model of the companies and social media tech reviewers is well-known and the very few people fall for these gullible people. Due to unavailability of any other major source of income, most of the media companies become paid stooge and that is what happened in this case. These media companies have such a business model that once Micromax establishes itself in the market and starts paying the ‘reviewers’, they will start rooting for the company and criticize every new launch by other companies.
Micromax’s fortunes have taken a severe hit over the past four years, from being India’s second largest smartphone maker in 2016 to now being completely overrun by Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, RealMe, and Oneplus.
We're #INForIndia with #INMobiles! What about you? #IndiaKeLiye #BigAnnouncement #MicromaxIsBack #AatmanirbharBharat pic.twitter.com/eridOF5MdQ
— IN by Micromax #INNote1 (@Micromax__India) October 16, 2020
However, after the Modi government launched ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan’, Rahul Sharma, the Co-founder of Micromax, in a moving video message, said, “What happened at the border, that wasn’t right. I thought a lot. And now whatever I do, I will do for India’. He added, “Life has given me another chance and Micromax is coming back.”
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As a company which was doing what it was doing initially, Rahul Sharma also graciously accepted that they might have made some mistakes which resulted in Micromax’s near wipe-out from the Indian markets. With its ‘In’ range of smartphones, Micromax is aiming at resuscitating its fortune in India, and given the response to the product so far, one can say that Micromax has finally arrived!
