Apple India enterprise head Sharad Mehrotra quits, starts up with Hyve Mobility

NEW DELHI: Sharad Mehrotra, iPhone maker Apple's enterprise mobility head in India, has quit and set up a handset company to compete in the world's fastest-growing smartphone market. Mehrotra, who was with Apple India since October 2007, has cofounded Hyve Mobility , which will launch smartphones using Android, the operating system that rivals Apple's iOS, by March.

"While consumers today have a lot of options to choose a smartphone, the element of customer delight is seriously missing," he told ET, adding that it was high time to get into the smartphone market.

Hyve Mobility will be up against Samsung Electronics and Micromax Informatics, which dominate the smartphone segment with a combined 40% market share, apart from companies including Intex, Lenovo and Lava. Shipments of smartphones in India grew 20% in the three months to Se ptember, according to Counterpoint Technology Market Research. Hyve Mobility is targetting the Rs 15,000-20,000 segment with a flagship model, Mehrotra said. It also plans to introduce models to address the Rs 10,000-30,000 se gment.Samsung's share in the segment between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 was 49% as of September, up from 43% the year before. Mehrotra cofounded Hyve with Aditya Agarwal, who heads Euphoria and 4 Genius Minds, among the fastest-growing Apple retail partners in the country.

"In the current Android scenario, no brand enjoys customer loyalty and we want to bring the change with our path-breaking products portfolio and service offerings," said Agarwal, MD of Hyve Mobility.