Motorola to set up design studio in B'lore
Telecom major Motorola on Tuesday said it is in the process of setting up a design studio in Bangalore, its sixth in the world.
NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of announcing a manufacturing facility in India, telecom major Motorola on Tuesday said it is in the process of setting up a design studio in Bangalore, its sixth in the world. “The purpose of the design studio is to understand the market and then use it to influence the global design strategy for mobile handsets,” said Ignacio Germade who heads Motorola's UK and Singapore Design Centres.
The studio would focus on research to gauge consumer likes and market requirements for mobile handsets. The studio in India, one of the company’s high growth markets, is Motorola’s sixth such studio globally after Beijing, Seoul, Chicago, UK and Singapore.
Mr Germade said that Motorola worked on a single design strategy for similar markets. While products are “influenced” by a specific region, it could be deployed beyond the region as well.
Elaborating on the role of the proposed studio, Mr Germade said, “In the case of low-cost Motofone, we had brought our research teams to India to do the user research. With the new studio in place, such research can be driven from India.” The Motofone has features that are unique to India including a dust-resistant key pad, a display that is visible in bright sunlight, e-ink screen and longer battery life.
Earlier this year, Motorola announced its intent to set up a manufacturing facility near Chennai with an initial investment of $30 million (Rs 135 crore), with plans to ramp it up to $100 million (Rs 450 crore) within a year.
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According to him, India is a huge growth market, and the manufacturing and the design studio will help tap the market better. He said Motorola had not only built momentum but also raised the bar for itself with the launch of the famous Motorola Razr. “You can surprise people only once. Razr is an innovation in the technology space to the extent that it has now become iconic. We will work on its variations, but it’s a good reference which we will use for some time.”Mr Germade, who is also responsible for Motorola's industrial and interface design for the EMEA and South Asia regions, said that in handset designs, the company’s focus in 2007 will be on colour, finish and refinement of materials.
“There’s a strong need to make products with which people can connect better. Colour connects with consumers emotionally and as the industry matures, customer expectation from phones will rise further,” he said.
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