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US-based PE firms Sandstone Capital and Sequoia Capital have acquired a minority stake in Micromax Informatics Limited, an India-based provider of mobile phone solutions and wireless technologies for mobile users, for about INR2,000 million ($43.52 million), in a pre-IPO placement.

Sandstone and Sequoia have acquired less than 10% stake in Micromax. This is the second PE placement in Micromax after TA Associates acquired a minority stake of less than 20% in the company for Rs.225 crore in January this year.
For 2009-10, it posted revenues of Rs.1,600 Cr with a net profit of Rs.150 Cr.

Micromax leads a pack of domestic companies, which includes Karbonn Mobiles, Spice Mobiles, Videocon Industries and Lava International, that have made inroads into the Rs.30,000-crore mobile phone market traditionally dominated by multinationals such as Nokia, Samsung, LG and Motorola. The company is the largest domestic mobile handset company. It has expanded sales network in countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Nokia’s Ovi Store, the place where the owners of a Nokia smartphone can find a wide range of content available for download on their devices, is seeing increased popularity among users, the latest stats show. The software solutions portal is enjoying a number of around 1.6 million downloads every day, it offers support for over 100 devices (more than 60 of them being powered by the Symbian operating system), and users can access content from publishers from more than 80 countries.

The latest statistics on Ovi Store showing that the storefront offers support for 30 language variations, and that users can enjoy mobile billing with Ovi Store from 66 operators in 19 countries. Two thirds of the customers in these countries choose this payment method, it seems. 90 percent of Ovi Store visitors are able to use their local language, while 80 percent of them can make purchases from the portal using their local currency.

Among the other stats on Nokia’s Ovi Store, we can count the fact that Digital Chocolate has managed to reached over 4.5 million downloads, or that prominent devices in top downloading countries include touch-enabled handsets like N97, N97 Mini, 5800 XpressMusic, 5530 XpressMusic and X6, as well as non-touch ones like E66, E71 and E72. Nokia N900 is another phone that made it in the top 10 performing devices in the past weeks (in 3 of the top 10 most active countries).

China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UK and Vietnam were nominated as the most active countries (in an alphabetical order).

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Nokia is planning a launch soon for its music downloading service in India following a China launch, as it looks to emerging markets to breathe new life into the struggling service. Nokia would bring its Comes with Music downloading service to India offering free music with its mobile phones as it seeks to compete with Apple Inc’s popular iTunes.

Nokia unveiled Comes with Music in late 2008, but it has lacked operator support and has gained little traction in developed markets since then.

Lets wait and watch for this service to be launched and how much traction it gains.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Micromax is now India’s third-largest GSM mobile phone vendor with a market share of 6 percent after Nokia (62 percent) and Samsung (8 percent), according to research firm IDC. It sells anywhere from 700,000 to one million mobile phones every month. And by its own estimates it is now selling nearly Rs.1,500 crore worth of phones annually.

Their Killer category is dual sim phones and this dual sim feature is today present in 20 to 30 percent of all mobile handsets sold in India. Micromax Mobiles — offers this feature on 22 out of the 26 phone models it sells in India. The Q3 itself, though fancy looking, costs only Rs. 3,700. Strangely Nokia doesn’t have a single phone with dual sim feature and i am sure micromax growth story will force nokia to adopt dual sim feature in some of their phones.

The guys at Micromax have two aces up their sleeve — a keen eye for what the customer needs, and the ability to swing their supply chain.  Micromax was selling computers and “fixed wireless” public phones (PCOs) before entering the crowded mobile phone market. The company’s first phone, the X1i, was born from the realisation that many Indian villages and towns didn’t get enough electricity to even recharge a phone daily. By increasing the size of the battery to 1800 mAh, Micromax was able to tout a standby time of 30 days for the X1i. And at the rather affordable price of Rs. 2,150, the phone was a big success in rural India.

Intense competition among mobile operators for subscribers would inevitably lead to multiple connections per user. But carrying two phones around in your pockets wasn’t something most people fancied. The seemingly obvious solution — handsets that accept two SIM cards simultaneously — became Micromax’s second killer category.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com