Nokia launched its multimedia monster, the N96, in India few days back at the price-point of Rs. 34,999. The N96 seems to0 pricey and I have a doubt whether it will repeat the sales feat by its other siblings like the N95, N95 8GB and the N82. The N96 is touted as the iPhone killer and was launched within a month of the iPhone 3G India launch. It is a superior multimedia device as compared to the iPhone 3G but it is also a fact that it cannot compete with the iPhone on two fronts, first, the superior multi-touch interface of the iPhone and secondly, the Internet browsing capability of the iPhone. When you closely look at some other functions of the N96, it is far better than the iPhone.
N96 comes with many pre-bundled high-end applications, multimedia and gaming content, which will help it in penetrating the Indian market in a better way than the iPhone. The Indian version of the N96 comes with pre-loaded Bollywood movie, Om Shanti Om, evergreen Hindi and English soundtracks (100 each), 3 N Gage games, 50 music videos and maps of India, UAE, Singapore and 3 months license for navigating 8 cities in India. All this multimedia content coupled with beefed up memory (16GB onboard + 8GB microSD card support) will help the N96 do better in the Indian market. Nokia’s N Series devices have always done well in the Indian market because of the young Indian generation fueling the sales of these devices.
Like the iPhone 3G, there were pre-booking for the N96 in India and according to company people the response was encouraging. For booking the N96 you have to pay Rs. 4000 in advance and according to Nokia, the pre-booking of N96 is better than what it was for the N95. Also, the prices of Nokia devices come down soon in the Indian market, for example, the N95 8GB is now available for Rs. 22,000 (it started retailing around 30,000). In the past 18 months, 10 million Nokia N95s were sold in India. Though, functionality wise, the N96 looks to be a very promising device, pricing is something, which is very high from an Indian customer’s point of view and might act as an initial roadblock in the sales of this device.
Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not comment and continue with the thread, or Subscribe to Not Another Mobile Phone Blog Feed and get high on the latest news & views about mobile phones. N96 comes with many pre-bundled high-end applications, multimedia and gaming content, which will help it in penetrating the Indian market in a better way than the iPhone. The Indian version of the N96 comes with pre-loaded Bollywood movie, Om Shanti Om, evergreen Hindi and English soundtracks (100 each), 3 N Gage games, 50 music videos and maps of India, UAE, Singapore and 3 months license for navigating 8 cities in India. All this multimedia content coupled with beefed up memory (16GB onboard + 8GB microSD card support) will help the N96 do better in the Indian market. Nokia’s N Series devices have always done well in the Indian market because of the young Indian generation fueling the sales of these devices.
Like the iPhone 3G, there were pre-booking for the N96 in India and according to company people the response was encouraging. For booking the N96 you have to pay Rs. 4000 in advance and according to Nokia, the pre-booking of N96 is better than what it was for the N95. Also, the prices of Nokia devices come down soon in the Indian market, for example, the N95 8GB is now available for Rs. 22,000 (it started retailing around 30,000). In the past 18 months, 10 million Nokia N95s were sold in India. Though, functionality wise, the N96 looks to be a very promising device, pricing is something, which is very high from an Indian customer’s point of view and might act as an initial roadblock in the sales of this device.
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6:22 AM
Thats one sick looking phone.
6:28 AM
@SSNPhones - What makes you think that N96 is a sick phone, would like to explore your point of view friend
9:04 PM
sick in the positive manner :)