India is Number One in Growth for Canon: Kensaku Konishi

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, Jan 1: Kyosei is a Japanese word and its concise definition is "living and working together for the common good". Kensaku Konishi implements Kyosei to the hilt in Canon India as its President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Canon has made Kyosei as its corporate philosophy. However, it has a broader definition of this Japanese word: "all people, regardless of race, religion or culture, harmoniously living and working together into the future."

Unfortunately, the presence of imbalance in our world in areas such as trade, income levels and the environment hinder the achievement of kyosei. Addressing these imbalances is a mission for the future and Canon is doing its part by actively pursuing kyosei, says Mr Konishi.

True global companies must foster good relations, not only with their customers and the communities in which they operate, but also with nations, the environment and the natural world. They must also bear the responsibility for the impact of their activities on society.

For this reason, Canon's goal is to contribute to the prosperity of the world and the happiness of humanity, which will lead to continuing growth and bring the world closer to achieving kyosei.

It is this corporate philosophy that has won Canon hundreds of thousands hearts in India. This can be gauged from the fact that Canon in India is experiencing 35 per cent growth, which is highest in the world.

Mr Kensaku Konishi, who arrived in India in 2007 for his assignment, is happy that growth for Canon is far better than rest of the world. “India is Number One in growth for us,” he says. Average growth in sales has been 30 per cent in the last four years. Canon India has clocked Rs 1,257 crore turnover during 2010 as against Rs 840 crore last year.

The President and CEO said even though the growth is good but still the market size is not big. India share is only 1 per cent of total Canon consolidates. Canon worldwide records sales of US $ 10 billion in the USA and in China it is US $ 2 billion. However, India’s share is 270 million dollars.

Growth for Canon in China is 25 per cent, in the US 5 to 10 per cent and in India it is more than 35 per cent. Being optimistic on Indian market, he said India’s sales would reach US $ 1 billion ie 2 per cent of worldwide share in 2015 and US $ 3 billion ie 5 per cent world wide share of Canon in 2020. “Indian market has big potential and we see sustainable growth in the next decade.”

He also added that “we cannot expect the US and Japan markets to grow so much in the coming years. No other country, other than India, can only provide such good and stable growth.”

When Mr Konishi arrived in India three years ago, there were no Canon showrooms, the kind the company has in Singapore and Hong Kong. “A customer could only go to a shop but could not touch it.”

However, Mr Konishi changed all that and opened Canon’s first Image Lounge in Gurgaon near Delhi where customers could feel, touch and experience the products. Later, two more such Experience Zones were opened in Mumbai and Bangalore. These Image Lounges have become popular with young and old alike.

However to reach wider Indian audiences in Tier II and III cities, the President and CEO launched yet another strategic and innovate share called Canon Image Express. It is Canon’s fancy showroom of 4,800 sq ft that moves from city to city every weekend. The equipment is carried in six trucks. It showcases 80 products and displays products like cameras, camcorders, photo printers, inkjet and laser printers, scanners and projectors to provide touch and feel experience of technology to its customers. Unlike the Image Lounges, the customers here can also buy the products.

Over 10,000 people have been visiting each exhibition. Canon aims to cover 38 cities in 20 States under the initiative that was launched from Ahmedabad April last year.

Canon has also been holding photography seminars where they invite leading photographers to pass on the knowledge to the people. 150 to 300 enthusiasts have been attending each of these photography seminars.

Mr Konishi informed that the company is now opening exclusive Canon stores across India. In 2010 we have opened five branded stores of which four are in National Capital Region of Delhi and one in Bangalore. The company is now focusing on opening a chain of 100 Canon stores across 50 top cities and towns during 2011.

He said the concept of national retail chain has developed abroad. But its still in nascent stage in India.

To provide after sale service to customers, Canon India has opened seven international Cameral repair centres in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkatta. Apart from this, the company has 30 authorised service dealers in the country.

Apple brings iPad to India

NEW DELHI, Jan 28: The much awaited Apple iPad has been finally made available for India's customers from Friday. The Apple iPad was first unveiled in the US nine months ago. The iPad will be available in Wi-Fi and 3G+Wi-Fi versions, each with three capacities (16GB, 32GB and 64GB). The Wi-Fi version is priced at Rs 27,900 to 37,900 and the 3G+Wi-Fi version costs Rs 34,900 to 44,900.

Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad''s revolutionary multi-touch user interface.

State-run telecom operator BSNL has also announced post-paid and pre-paid iPad 3G data plans at Rs 999 for unlimited usage.

BSNL 3G services in all 760 cities soon

KANCHEEPURAM, Jan 22: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's target to roll out 3G services in 760 cities will be achieved by this fiscal, according to its Chairman and Managing Director Gopal Das.

Talking to mediapersons after a function on Rajiv Gandhi Salai in Padur, near Kelambakkam, on Saturday, he said the pan-India presence enjoyed by BSNL had helped in smooth and easy rollout of 3G services in 700 cities. In the remaining 60 cities, the 3G services would be rolled out by March 31, he said.

Earlier, he inaugurated BSNL's new broadband service offered through fibre-optic cables to the occupants of ‘Mantri' – a residential complex promoted by Mantri Developers. The new broadband service – Fibre to the Home (FTTH) – utilises fibre-optic cables and optical electronics instead of copper wire and DSL equipment, Mr.Gopal Das said. There were plans to provide FTTH service to high-end customers in 127 cities across the country.

The BSNL CMD also launched Smart Payphone Card services in Chennai Telecom District (CTD), where the phone card could be used to make calls from specially designed PCO boxes.

Chief General Manager of BSNL Chennai Telephones, A.Subramanian said the launch of FTTH would help improve business prospects of BSNL in the Chennai region.

Rural India to drive mobile phone market growth: report

NEW DELHI, Jan 22: Rural India is expected to fuel the growth in mobile phone services in the next four years, as cell phones become a vital tool for the government in its financial inclusion programme, according to Global consultancy group Deloitte.

Deloitte said that low penetration levels of mobile phones would provide more business opportunities for service providers.

The paper focuses on how mobile phones can be used to deliver content and services that can help foster inclusive growth in India by digitally empowering citizens across all cross—sections of society, both urban and rural — This paper refers to these services as Utility mobile value added service (MVAS).

“The next wave of growth in subscriptions will come from semi—urban and rural areas. Today, the penetration of mobile phones in urban areas is already 100 per cent while in rural areas it is only 23 per cent,” it said.

The rural segment services includes selling and procurement information and support for farm commodities, educating farming community on best practises, delivery of healthcare and education to remote village via the mobile broad band network.

Mobile phone subscribers’ base has increased by 35 per cent between March 2009 and 2010 with an even higher increase in low—end subscribers and in rural areas.

Financial exclusion in rural India, which comprises 60 per cent of the Indian populace, is acute, with about 76 per cent of the rural populace facing financial exclusion.

It is increasingly difficult for banks to expand in rural areas because of various infrastructure, manpower, and operational problems.

RBI has focused its 100 per cent financial inclusion plan on the public sector Banks. SBI, the country’s largest public sector bank is currently piloting two initiatives for financial inclusion that are based on the mobile—platform.

SBI at present has a tie—up with two organisations for providing m—banking services in rural areas. Both initiatives were carried out in alliance with the application developers.

Initially, the 3G rollout is expected to be more focussed in urban areas—therefore the uptake of 3G services will be concentrated among urban subscribers, but with increasing coverage in rural areas the uptake among rural subscriber will pick up.

Consumers are also looking for diverse vernacular content at affordable prices — this would enable proliferation of 3G services across the country especially rural India.

Bharti Airtel to launch 3G services shortly

NEW DELHI, Jan 23: With the government clearing decks for video calling on mobile phones, the country’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel today said it will commercially launch 3G mobile services within a week.

“We will make the announcement for the commercial launch of our 3G service in next six to seven days,” said Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor.

On the telecom circles in which the service will be launched, Kapoor said that those details will be announced soon.

Bharti had won spectrum (radio waves) for 3G services in 13 of the country’s 22 telecom service areas in the auction held by the Government last year.

Recently, after initial hiccups, the government permitted carriage of video calls on mobile networks subject to an undertaking by operators that they would provide interception capability by July 31.

Last year, Airtel’s competitors, Tata DoCoMo, the GSM arm of Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications had launched 3G services in some circles, but were forced to stop them due to uncertainty over interception guidelines for video calls.

Besides, state—owned firms BSNL and MTNL are also offering 3G services in the country.

Another major private player, Vodafone has also announced plans to launch the service within the next three months.

Bharti Airtel has given contracts to leading global vendors - Ericsson India, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Huawei Technologies to set up infrastructure for providing 3G services in the country.

These vendors would plan, design, deploy and maintain 3G—HSPA (third generation, high speed packet access) networks in 13 telecom circles where the company has won 3G licences.

Bharti Airtel had close to 150 million mobile customers in India at the end of December 2010.

Canon launches 'Sachin Tendulkar' 2011 Special Edition Calendar

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Canon India has announced the launch of its limited edition of the ‘Sachin Tendulkar' calendar for the year 2011. The calendar is shot by ace photographer Daboo Ratnani on a Canon EOS camera. The calendar, available in both desk and wall format aesthetically portrays Sachin in never-seen-before imageries, highlighting 12 of his core beliefs in life.

The Sachin Tendulkar-limited edition calendar 2011 features creative photographs of the ace cricketer skillfully capturing his cricketing milestones and aligning it to Canon's wide product line.

The calendar aims to enthrall cricketing fans with Sachin's photographs showcasing his personal milestone every month.

Commenting on the special edition Sachin calendar, Mr. Alok Bharadwaj, Senior Vice President, Canon India said:

“It gives me immense pleasure to launch the ‘Sachin Tendulkar' 2011 Special Edition Calendar. With Sachin's recent landmark achievement of 50 test centuries and the World Cup 2011, IPL and other major cricket season in the beginning of 2011, this will be a cherished memorabilia.

The year 2010 has been a milestone year for both Canon India and the cricket maestro Sachin, and this calendar compliments each other's success.

With this calendar, Canon India wishes that everyone makes their ‘every shot a Powershot.”

“I am delighted to be a part of this wonderfully shot Canon calendar for 2011. The calendar has beautifully captured my professional milestones in 12 months. The photographs shot on Canon EOS has generated incredible images, hence showcasing the technologically rich product line of Canon,” said Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar.

Videocon-Ducati Flag-off First Mo-Biking India Tour

By Deepak Arora

MUMBAI, Dec 21: Videocon Mobile Phones flags off the first ever Mo-Biking road trip. The trip will cover eight cities and showcase the stunning new V6200 (Videocon Ducati Brand licensed Phone) and Ducati Monster bikes to give the audience a firsthand experience of the concept of Mo-biking.

This is for the first time that an Indian company has launched a brand licensed phone from the International superbike major Ducati Motors. Videocon has its presence across India and the trip has been planned keeping in mind the stature of the brands associated with the trip. The trip has been divided into two teams which will cover eight cities during its journey which includes Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi and Chandigarh

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Saurabh Dhoot, Director, Videocon Group, said: “We are proud to introduce a new trend with the first ever Ducati brand licensed sports phone in India. “Mo-Biking” is not just the theme of our association but is an experience in which we want all adventure enthusiasts to participate”.

The phone can be interestingly operated on three modes that are Phone, Fun and Sports mode. It also comes with Ducati branded Sports bottle and an Arm Band carrying case, and MapmyIndia GPS manual

A phone with a rugged and sporty design comes with Anti Slip Grip, Screw frame body chassis and dust resistant keys that have unique side control. With the Special sports features and design and brand licensed with Ducati, this phone proves to be a consumer delight. The best part is that the phone is one of its kinds in the country. V6200 is a perfect balance for a person who needs a gadget to compliment his/her adventures spirit and not just the phone.

The phone has been designed keeping in mind all the requirements of any adventure enthusiasts and also give a complete Mo-Biking experience. Videocon V6200 has interesting features like E-Compass (To know directions), Thermometer (To check temperature), Barometer (To gauge Pressure), Altimeter (To ascertain height), Pedometer (To count the number of steps), GPS System, UV Sensor (to know if you are exposed to harmful UV rays) and an Anti Slip Grip rugged body.

It has a 2 MP Camera, Dual LED Torch, 6cm TFT Screen, Pre-bundled 4GB Memory Card which has pre-loaded life time validity GPS navigation system from MAPMYINDIA and two headsets – normal and sports, and Customizable LED Pulse Indicator. It also has mobile tracker, FM with FM recorder and a sunset & sunrise meter

Videocon’s new logo, the fluid “V”, coupled with a new proposition – Experience Change -- is a fresh new identity for a group that has been named among India’s top brands. It reflects Videocon’s renewed focus on moving quickly from static to energetic.

The brand campaign for Videocon Mobile Phones says, “V is the New Me”. This brand campaign is a metaphor for the restless nature of youth – change becoming the only constant. Mobile phone today is a part of one's inherent self and slowly it is becoming a complete world in itself.

Videocon Group’s success has been built on various pillars, an important one being the strong relationship the group has built, over the years, with its massive base of trade and channel partners. Videocon has also made strong inroads into a third of the market through a multi-brand strategy that covers consumers of all socio-economic backgrounds. It now has almost 85 per cent penetration in shelf space.

Founded in 1926, Ducati builds racing-inspired motorcycles characterized by unique engine features, innovative design, advanced engineering and overall technical excellence. The company produces motorcycles in six market segments which vary in their technical and design features and intended customers: Superbike, Desmosedici RR, Monster, Multistrada, SportClassic and Hypermotard and the new Diavel.

The company’s motorcycles are sold in 80 countries worldwide, with a primary focus in the Western European, North American and Japan markets. Ducati competes in the World Superbike and MotoGP World Championships. In World Superbike, Ducati won 16 of the last 20 Manufacturers’ titles and 13 Riders’ titles. Competing in MotoGP since 2003, Ducati won both the Constructors’ and Riders’ world titles in 2007.

Women prefer owning DSLRs: Canon Survey

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, Dec 20: A survey has revealed that women prefer owning DSLRs over digicams and camcorders and printer usage for photos most popular among teenagers. An online survey by Canon India on consumer behaviour also revealed that today consumers are more aware of their lifestyle needs and prefer visiting exclusive company outlets to experience products before making their purchase.

Over 8000 respondents throughout India participated in this survey, proliferated across genders and different age groups.

The survey focuses in depth on the entire cognition process that a consumer goes through (depending on the gender and the age group that the consumer belongs to) while purchasing an imaging product. Understanding the importance of experiential buying, 50 per cent of total respondents across different age categories prefer visiting exclusive company outlets.

The survey also sheds off the traditional belief that only men are inclined towards gadget and proves that, 50 per cent women capture every cherished moment in their lives and are more intensive and impulsive buyers as compared to men, as they do not wait for festive offers to purchase imaging products.

Out of these 50 per cent, 25 per cent of female respondents still prefer owning a DSLR as compared to a digicam or camcorder. Also, 23 per cent of the respondents, irrespective of their gender, prefer printing their photographs at home and is most popular among teenagers.

Interesting Trends:

-- Digital SLR camera has maximum (63%) ‘top of mind’ recall across genders

-- 23% of respondents prefer printing pictures at home

-- 50% of total respondents across different age categories prefer visiting exclusive company outlets for experiential buying

-- 60% of the consumers feel Canon is reliable, trustworthy and innovative brand

-- 91% respondents prefer advising others on their product needs which in turn strongly impacts buying decisions of individuals

-- Majority of women prefer owning a DSLR over a digital camera or camcorder

Speaking on this context, Mr. Kensaku Konishi, President and CEO Canon India said, “We at Canon believe in constantly evolving ourselves by providing the consumers with the correct choices by understanding their needs. The Indian customer is demanding better products, higher lifestyle quotient, good quality selling interface, hence, through this consumer survey we have tried to reach closer to the end users, especially tier II and tier III market.”

Commenting on the survey, Mr. Alok Bharadwaj, Senior Vice President, Canon India, said, “This is the first time Canon has conducted a survey which helps us to understand the consumer psyche behind the purchasing of imaging products. With over 8000 respondents participating in the survey, Canon India has crossed another milestone of excellence. The survey dispels the myth that imaging products are not only used by males but is also equally adopted by the female gender in the present era. The survey clearly portrays the significance of creating a one-stop shop with superior experience for the consumers. This unique initiative would help Brand Canon enjoy greater visibility and get closer to our customers, at large.”

Canon India closed H1 2010 revenues with 56 per cent growth and is set to touch Rs 1260 Crores during calendar year 2010 which will be a 50 per cent growth over 2009. Revenues in 2009 were Rs. 840 Crores, a 27 per cent growth over 2008. Canon focuses on multiple market segments of consumer, B2B, Government and Commercial.

Canon’s product portfolio extends over a vast variety of photocopiers, multi-functional peripherals, fax-machines, printers, scanners, All-in-ones, digital cameras, camcorders and multi media projectors, cable id printers, semi conductors and card printers.

Canon India Pvt. Ltd. is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Canon Singapore Pte. Ltd.,a world leader in imaging technologies. Set up in 1997, Canon India markets over 140 comprehensive range of sophisticated contemporary digital imaging.

The company today has offices in 7 cities, warehouses in 13 cities across India and employs over 800 people. Canon has over 380 primary channel partners 13 National Retail Chain partners, over 4000 secondary retail points including 270 National Retail Chain store partners & 33 Canon Care Centers. Canon products are available in over 400 towns in India.

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