OPPO Sees Emerging Markets At The Heart Of Smartphone Growth Story

Smartphones will remain the most commonly owned consumer electronics device in the near future, says Charles Wong, CEO, OPPO India. Even though smartphones are getting saturated with value-added features, he feels technology can continuously upgrade user-experience.

Wong, who is also President, OPPO South Asia, sees 5G and artificial intelligence (AI) playing an increasingly important role going forward. AI will be a key area of focus, as it brings two crucial values: Higher efficiency and better convenience.

In an e-mailed response to BusinessLine’s queries, Wong says 5G will transform the overall technology experience and give an impetus to the Digital India programme reaching the government’s digital services to all.

As a pioneer in 5G technology — OPPO showcased its first 5G smartphone at MWC 2019 — the Chinese mobile major has helped to shape the next generation of connectivity through contributions in standards research, software and hardware development. The company recently launched a ‘5G Landing Project’ with several partners to accelerate commercialisation of 5G products and services worldwide

Declining to comment on the controversy surrounding Huawei, Wong says the impending 5G spectrum auction will change the landscape of the industry going forward, as it is expected to benefit the B2B segment more than the previous technologies that mainly served B2C interests. The market for mobiles maybe plateauing, but Wong still sees a huge potential in developing nations such as India and regions such as Eastern Europe. For him, innovative marketing can unlock the potential. For instance, he says, OPPO’s study of the Indian consumer revealed the intense cricket and Bollywood connect. In line with that, OPPO has worked with the International Cricket Council (ICC), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Bollywood to connect with consumers.

OPPO considers sporting events as an effective marketing tool. Thus, it has collaborated with Wimbledon and also partnered football club FC Barcelona. For the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup, it has a campaign ‘BeAShotMaker’ with England’s Vice-Captain Jos Butler. While this is at the global level, Wong says that in India it successfully ran the “India give your Heartbeat” campaign ahead of the tournament.

To cheer Team India, people were invited to share their heartbeats through the OPPO Billion Beats App. As part of this campaign, it will unveil a song Jeet Pe Apna Haq Hai, composed by music director duo Meet Bros with the actual heartbeats of fans and top cricketers like Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Kedar Jadhav and Shikhar Dhawan.

Just ahead of the Cricket World Cup, OPPO also launched the Reno series of mobile phones, which comes equipped with what Wong calls many “industry-first creative features”; for instance, the latest 10x Hybrid Zoom technology. This smartphone has an innovative pop-up camera that silently slides out of the top like a shark’s fin. The camera can, theoretically, zoom 60 times, and includes an ultra-wide lens that results in 8MP images.

OPPO is padded up for a long inning.

The writer was in London for the India-Australia World Cup Cricket match at the invitation of OPPO.―The Hindu Business Line