Former Apple CEO John Sculley is apparently looking to enter the smartphone market and launch a new brand in India, BGR.in is reporting. The yet unnamed company will be led by Ajay Sharma, who was previously heading Micromax’s smartphone division and was also at one time HTC’s India head. Sharma will use his contacts from within the industry to make this a successful business, all while engaging some of its earlier colleagues from the two companies.
The new company will mostly be selling smartphones though there could be few feature phones in their line-up, as well. The first device will hit the market in April this year, costing anywhere between Rs 5,000 ($82) and Rs 15,000 ($246).
Singapore-based Inflexionpoint, where Sculley is one of the founding partners, will finance the new venture.
It remains to be seen whether these guys have what it takes to compete in today’s landscape. India is a huge market, but all major brands are there and so are many local players.
According to the latest IDC figures, smartphone shipments in India grew three times from 16.2 million in 2012 to 44 million in 2013…