InMobi, the global advertising giant, is working on giving the Silicon Valley companies a run for their money.
Eight years ago, InMobi was founded as an advertising company, which has since placed a considerable focus on the mobile ad ecosystem and has grown into the third largest player in an extremely intense sector of the marketing industry.
At the moment, only Google and Facebook are ahead of InMobi when it comes to the mobile ad space.
The company was first started by three graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, a prestigious postsecondary education institution. It is located in Bangalore, India and has managed to take off at a rate that has been explosive enough to pass everyone along the way except Google and Facebook. According to the chief executive of mobile advertising at InMobi, Naveen Tewari, “I am a very proud Indian and I want to see our country succeed.”
Among the goals of the founders of the company was to become major mobile ad players from within India.
Tewari stated that “I thought if I could do something from here that can be successful, maybe I’ll have a small role in creating great companies out of India that can compete with the iconic companies in Silicon Valley.”
Today, there are 24 different InMobi offices located in 17 countries around the world. It is the employer of over 900 people. In 2014, it was behind the posting of approximately 720 mobile advertisements on the smartphones of over one billion mobile device users. The goal of the company is to deliver mobile ads to 2.5 billion people per day. It aims to achieve this goal within the next few years.
Much of the growth of this mobile advertising company has been credited to the massive penetration of smartphones and tablets worldwide. Enders Analysis director of digital media, Ian Maude, pointed out that “InMobi creates audience networks for advertisers to reach through mobile devices.”
Therefore, companies and brands hire app makers and other forms of digital publishers in order to be able to use proper mobile ad strategies to connect with their audiences over their handsets.
This is a direct reflection of the company’s expansion in the massive Indian smartphone marketplace.
LG Electronics India has now announced its intentions to double the number of mobile devices it will have to offer in 2016, as it plans to launch about 15 different smartphones across a range of different price points.
The new mobile phone offerings are meant to boost its overall revenue through mobile sales sources.
At the moment, LG Electronics brings in about 7 to 8 percent of its overall revenue through the sale of mobile devices in India. It currently sells about 13 models of cell phones in the country. That said, the sales that it has seen have been considered to be disappointing and the company is hoping to change that situation dramatically.
According to Ki Wan Kim, the managing director of LG Electronics India, “This year, performance of our mobile business has been disappointing. We will launch around 15 mobile models next year. In three years time, my target is to make all our product categories to contribute equally in percentage terms to our total sales… bring mobile sales to similar level of consumer durables.”
There are four main areas of mobile devices, including smartphones, that are the main focus of LG India.
Those four categories are currently mobile gadgets, home appliances, home entertainment, and air conditioners. While the company does plan to boost its sales within the country, it doesn’t have any intention to begin manufacturing in the market.
They had previously manufactured in India, but they have ceased that operation and haven’t any current intentions to return to the activity. Should the company consider returning to manufacturing in India, it will require sales to justify the decision. Ki Wan Kim stated that “Our future sales forecast should be stable to keep our factories operational.”
Among the main areas of focus for the sale of mobile devices in the country will be smartphones. This market has been seen as a massive opportunity by many handset makers due to the expansion of the demand for the technology and the relatively low penetration, so far, when compared to other markets.
