Micromax sub brand YU has their eyes set on the US market

| Updated: Tuesday, October 20, 2015, 18:32 [IST]

Micromax has come a long way since its inception in the Indian market. After having moved up the ranks in the local market - both in terms of sales figure and market perceptions - Micromax has expanded its wings beyond the sub-continent by entering Russia and Romania at the end of last year. Now, they have supposedly set their eyes on the US market.

The Homegrown brand is already functional in a no of countries in Asia including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Apart from that that the company has also entered Singapore. However their toughest challenge is impending - USA!

According to a report by The Information Micromax was mulling to float in its sub brand YU into the US market. However the move is reportedly put on hold as the company's co-founders unanimously decided against the move. Despite, the sudden changes in plans there's still a possibility of the company tapping the US market. The CyanogenMod logo of the YU along with the competitive pricings will help the company to break into the market.

Despite being the second largest market in the world, the US market is a tough nut to crack. Unlike the Russia and Romania which share similar market dimensions, the US markets comes with its own set of unique challenges. First is the brand perception, very few US buyers go beyond the popular set of manufacturers for their smartphones. In fact companies like Xiaomi has put their US entry on hold due to this major issue. Xiaomi is in fact selling their own accessories in the country to build their brand repute.

Next major issue that Micromax needs to tackle is finding an appropriate partner. The US smartphone markets is plagued by carrier partners like Verizon, Sprint, AT&T etc. Very few customers buy an unlocked smartphone. Lastly is the patents issues - Xiaomi is building a no of patents and bumping up their R&D team for the similar reason.

The 15 year old brand, which entered the smartphone market in 2008 is fairly young but that hasn't deterred them from bagging a 10th spot in the Top 10 mobile manufacturers worldwide. Hence anything is possible, however according to internal sources analyst at Gizbot believe that entry into the US market won't be an imminent move by the company.