Mitsubishi launches Mondo

Mitsubishi Electric announced the launch of Trium Mondo, its top-of-the-line handset, yesterday in the capital

Mitsubishi Electric announced the launch of Trium Mondo, its top-of-the-line handset, yesterday in the capital. Mondo is a palm top and a mobile phone put together. A high-end product, the Mondo is priced at Rs 59, 999.

Talking about the technology behind Mondo, Koji Ono, director, Mitsubishi Electric, says, "We at Mitsubishi are committed to bringing in technologically superior products all over the globe. According to a recent survey conducted by Yahoo, Trium Mondo is the fastest in accessing the net. It is better than Nokia."

"Mondo is like a personal secretary," Ono adds. The mobile phone is a dual-band handset with a personal organiser and a web browser, besides pocket outlook for e-mails. Among other features Mondo has an MP3 reader. The user can simply download MP3 songs from the net and listen to music at leisure.

Mondo is positioned as a lifestyle management tool for the corporate high fliers. Mitsubishi has earmarked a hefty sum of $ 1.5 million as the advertising budget, which would go mostly into print. The ad will talk about Mondo's unique features and its cutting-edge technology. The campaign is slated to break next month. It will appear in India Today, Outlook, Business India, Business Today, Business World, Jet Wings and other special interest magazines.

The company has now worked out a well-defined marketing strategy for its new products to counter the threat posed by the gray market. Understandably, given that Mitsubishi had to pull out the Trium Mars from the market immediately after the launch. The company will leverage its strong distribution channel of 600 dealers across the country to sell Mondo. It expects to up the number of dealers to 1,200 by the year-end. The company plans to leverage exhibitions and direct mails to promote Mondo.

Alongside the launch, the company also announced the re-pricing of the existing models in the Trium range - Geo, Aria and Cosmo. The decision to cut down the price is aimed primarily at capturing a wider consumer base in India. Geo would be now available at Rs 4,559 (down from Rs 9,810), Aria at Rs 9,999 (down from Rs 14,499) and Cosmo would be available at Rs 21,999 (down from Rs 26,300).

Last year, the company had sold 30,000-35,000 units of the Trium and this year it hopes to push up the sale to 100,000 units. The company has lined up a few launches for the year-end as well. However, the company officials refused to reveal the names of the products in the pipeline.

Taking into account that Mitsubishi stepped into the Indian mobile phone market just five months ago, the rash of launches from the company stable and its advertising plans are a sure indicator that the company is determined to make its presence felt in India

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