Ex-Apple CEO who fired 'Steve Jobs', launches Obi Mobiles in India

John Sculley, the former chief of Apple who apparently fired the late Steve Jobs from the company in the mid-1980s, is funding a venture that aims to launch low-cost smartphones in India that will be priced between Rs 5,000 and Rs 8,000. John Sculley has launched his own smartphone brand, Obi Mobiles, exclusively in India. Obi Mobile is headquartered in Gurgaon.

Obi Mobiles will be led by Ajay Sharma as CEO. Ajay has over 30 years of experience and has worked with Micromax and HTC as their smartphone division head. Obi Mobiles plans to invest $20 million this year to set up the supply chain, design centre and sales/after-sales in key locations across India. The company aims to focus on mid-range smartphones and says it will introduce affordable smartphones with superior technology. It also plans to take the brand to markets in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Latin America after the Indian market.

Dragon Technology, based in Singapore, will be responsible for the distribution and production of the handsets in China. Iris Computers, an Indian company owned by Inflexipoint, on the other hand, will handle the sales in India and push the brand via its vendors and distributors.

While an experienced and successful top brass earns Obi the much needed confidence to set foot in the market, it is still hard to succeed in a segment dominated by local brands like Micromax as well as global leaders like Samsung. As suggested by Sculley and Sharma, marketing is going to play a pivotal role here. It is surely going to be an interesting journey to witness whether Obi gains a foothold in the growing Indian mobile market.

The company is yet to have a web presence that has information about the handsets, has a website Obimobiles.com which is just a placeholder for now.