Mobile Phones, Emerging Markets and Stuart Henshall

Stuart’s becoming quite the expert on mobility in urban India!! He was here end-April for a little over a week and we did a lot of learning around the mobile phone space in Mumbai. Next time, small towns too!! Its really cool to see how he can really get to some deep immersions despite so obviously being a foreigner – chatting up kids in a slum, hopping into an Andheri local, getting trade to reveal all, sharing his curiosity openly, completely comfortable sitting on the floor in a tiny home where he has to bend over at full stretch, and drinking sweet chai – despite his tall overview on things. I mean that literally as he is 6’5″. It’s really funny for me to see people’s reactions to him – here, where average male height is 5’5″ – they look up in such awe – and then realise he is human when he smiles, when they touch his arm tentatively and he responds by touching their arm back briefly.

Check out his prolific posts on his learnings, which I have collated here because it’s a great collection of observations, images, artifacts, insights and foresight:

• India World’s Fastest Growing Mobile Market- recent statistics on the mobile phone market in India and the need for all-in-one phones
• “China Phone”” Beats Nokia N95 in Boombox Test- BOOM. We are really psyched by the volume on these phones and feel sheepish when we try and compete with our N-Series Nokias!
• The Emerging Indian Middle Class- beginning to question what is the middle class really, after visiting with folks at Dharavi – our largest slum
• It All Comes Out in the Wash- one of Mumbai’s showcases for tourists – hmmm. Intriguing nonetheless in how they organize themselves and the truckloads of laundry
• From the Mouths of Kids – Mobile Insight- meeting some really smart kids from Dharavi who educate us about China Phones despite not owning one themselves!
• Manish Market and the New Mobile Ghetto Blasters – discovering and observing Manish Market – an alternative wholesale, retail, repair and service culture all of its own
• Prince A950 — My China Phone – Think Different where he reviews his spanking new China Phone
• Emerging Market – Research to Action- are you learning from countries like India? Stuart makes the case for companies to not just rely on focus groups and interviews, but to get out there on the field. They insights come out of understanding the “friction” between different needs and environmental factors.
• Repairs, Tweaks and Choice – Mobile Phones- aaah check out our friendly neighbourhood computer and mobile guys – we trust them more than the “companies” to solve our problems!
• Modding the 3G iPhone – Cracking the Case – there’s a whole hardware market for the iPhone coming from Asia

Tagged as: china phones, emerging markets, India, learning journey, Mobile, mobile phone markets, mobile phones, repairs, stuart henshall