Abu Dhabi: It has a been four years since cricket legend Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has hung his boots, but the brand name ‘SRT’ continues to prosper.
While most of the leading cricketers of his time has chosen to be the voice behind the sport or taken up administrative or coaching roles — Tendulkar at 44 years — has etched his own path. The exception of being a mentor with Indian Premier League Team Mumbai Indians, but here too one has to understand that the association has a wide spectrum to it.
Tendulkar’s presence gives Mumbai Indians a huge fan base around the globe and the master’s brand, in return, has got the weight of being associated with the richest Indian business conglomerate — Reliance Group.
After agreeing to be an influencer with professional networking company LinkedIn earlier this month and joining the likes of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra, entrepreneur Richard Branson and Indian politician Shashi Tharoor to do so, the Master Blaster has collaborated with mobile device company Smartron on Wednesday.
The firm boasts of being the first 100 per cent native cellphone device, which will be known as Srt.phone. The Indian brand’s first phone was launched last year by the name t.phone, which fell in the higher end of the budget segment. Now, the company has launched a budget segment device.
With PM Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign taking firm roots, who better to plug for the product than the highly decorated and adored Indian – Tendulkar.
A wisely chosen move indeed to entice the general public in a competitive Indian smartphone market flooded with companies selling handsets with China components. With the device falling in the mid-range segment and the specifications at par with most offerings in this segment priced approximately between Dh751 and Dh851 (Rs12,999), one can expect SRT.phone to connect with the masses.
But as of now there is only one winner and that is — Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.
