Dubai: Dubai-headquartered Chinese smartphone manufacturer, InnJoo, aims to become the Xiaomi of the Middle East within the next couple of years.
Xiaomi is a Chinese vendor which became the number one brand in China last year, overtaking Samsung and Apple just by selling online.
“We have very strong connections with Xiaomi and they have given us lot of tips to succeed in the online smartphone space,” Tim Chen, chief executive of InJoo, told Gulf News after launching the company’s flagship device — InnJoo One — in Dubai on Tuesday.
The InnJoo One, which looks similar to iPhone 5, is a five-inch HD device which is 6.9mm thick and crafted in a metal frame and glass on both sides.
The 4G model, which sells for Dh599, runs on a 64-bit octa-core 1.7 gigahertz (GHz) MediaTek processor with 2 gigabytes (GB) of random access memory (RAM) and 16GB of internal storage capacity. It has a 13 mega-pixel (MP) rear camera and a 5MP front camera.
The 3G model, which sells for Dh499, runs on a 32-bit octa-core 1.4GHz MediaTek processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage capacity. It has a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera.
The phones will be available through Souq.com from March 24 and customers can pre-order from March 11.
“We are quite different from other brands as our go-to market strategy is different. We have been in this market only for six months. We have already sold 300,000 units in the Middle East [including] the UAE [and] Saudi Arabia, [as well as] Egypt and Nigeria,” Chen said.
The company aims to sell around one million units this year.
“The biggest selling point is that it is available only through online retailer — Souq.com. The advantage of going online is the cost advantage for customers. The same phone will be expensive by Dh200 if sold through a retail channel. We get the revenues from software, apps and accessories,” he said.
He said that InnJoo has its own browser, app store and cloud service on the device.
“We have more than 100,000 apps and are developing our own apps. Right now InnJoo has more than 2,000 Arabic apps on the store. We are building our ecosystem for the local customers,” he said.
The company has many devices and all are above five-inch displays.
Chen said that screens below five inches are not enough to truly enjoy the experience of the internet.
“We are a customer-centric company. The internet is going to change the whole industry very fast as we have seen it in the US and in China. E-commerce in China was 2 per cent five years ago and it has grown to 10 per cent of the total retail purchase,” he said.
The company plans to enter South Africa, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Kenya and other Gulf countries by next year.
