MANILA, Philippines—Three years ago, David Lim expanded the Solid Group Inc., the company put up by his entrepreneur mom Elena Sen Lim, by establishing MyPhone, a brand of affordable mobile phones targeting the lower-income market.
Priced unbelievably low, the MyPhone phones back then were almost identical with the generic looking Chinese-made phones sold cheap in Greenhills shops, but since they were stamped with a brand and feature apps and content that reflect Filipino culture and faith, they soon became a hit among the masses.
One MyPhone device was called the “Cory Aquino” phone because it features the yellow color and the image of Cory Aquino. This phone sold thousands during last year’s elections, helped significantly by President Aquino’s popularity.
Another MyPhone phone was popular among the religious because it features e-Bible and prayer apps, which automatically launch during the time of Angelus or morning prayer.
“It was a simple phone that everybody laughed at,” says Lim of how some people reacted to MyPhone when it was launched. “People were telling me, ‘Why go into the mobile market already crowded by big global brands like Nokia.’ But the market has embraced the phones so well. MyPhone even opened the doors for other Filipino branded phones to enter the market.”
Packed in a small office room of SGI building, MyPhone started as a niche business for SGI, which is into cable TV and real-estate business.
But today MyPhone sales have already reached almost P2 billion in 2010, making Lim very proud of the new venture.
The last quarter for the company has yielded a sale of more than 400,000 phones, which is a ninefold sales growth from the previous year’s fourth-quarter sales.
Lim says MyPhone is now the biggest-earning venture for SGI, contributing 50 percent to the group’s revenue.
Lim says this year the company plans to sell 2 million phones, with prices ranging from P1,999 to P5,999 only. To reach the ambitious sales target, Lim says the company would introduce more franchise kiosks, or about 150 dedicated outlets selling only MyPhone products apart from distributing the phones to more dealers.
The phones are cheap but packed with features such as QWERTY keypads, Wi-Fi, dual SIM slots, and UI filled with widgets for access of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. There’s also a dual-SIM MyPhone with full touch-screen display, another adorned with Swarovski crystals, and one QWERTY phone that features analog TV receiver.
In the coming months, MyPhone will launch an Android tablet and a number of touch smart phones that feature multimedia apps and TV receiver.
“Customization was key to the strength of MyPhone,” says Lim of the products’ appeal to the mass consumers. He says that the phones are manufactured in China but are customized with apps and features by Filipino software developers.
MyPhone’s popularity was also helped by celebrity endorsers like Dingdong Dantes and Sarah Geronimo, who appeal to the masa.
“When everybody else was trying to look like a Nokia, MyPhone has its own identity from the very beginning. They call us ‘baduy’ but that’s fine as long as we are selling lots of phones,” says Lim.
One MyPhone device was called the “Cory Aquino” phone because it features the yellow color and the image of Cory Aquino. This phone sold thousands during last year’s elections, helped significantly by President Aquino’s popularity.
Another MyPhone phone was popular among the religious because it features e-Bible and prayer apps, which automatically launch during the time of Angelus or morning prayer.
“It was a simple phone that everybody laughed at,” says Lim of how some people reacted to MyPhone when it was launched. “People were telling me, ‘Why go into the mobile market already crowded by big global brands like Nokia.’ But the market has embraced the phones so well. MyPhone even opened the doors for other Filipino branded phones to enter the market.”
Packed in a small office room of SGI building, MyPhone started as a niche business for SGI, which is into cable TV and real-estate business.
But today MyPhone sales have already reached almost P2 billion in 2010, making Lim very proud of the new venture.
The last quarter for the company has yielded a sale of more than 400,000 phones, which is a ninefold sales growth from the previous year’s fourth-quarter sales.
Lim says MyPhone is now the biggest-earning venture for SGI, contributing 50 percent to the group’s revenue.
Lim says this year the company plans to sell 2 million phones, with prices ranging from P1,999 to P5,999 only. To reach the ambitious sales target, Lim says the company would introduce more franchise kiosks, or about 150 dedicated outlets selling only MyPhone products apart from distributing the phones to more dealers.
The phones are cheap but packed with features such as QWERTY keypads, Wi-Fi, dual SIM slots, and UI filled with widgets for access of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. There’s also a dual-SIM MyPhone with full touch-screen display, another adorned with Swarovski crystals, and one QWERTY phone that features analog TV receiver.
In the coming months, MyPhone will launch an Android tablet and a number of touch smart phones that feature multimedia apps and TV receiver.
“Customization was key to the strength of MyPhone,” says Lim of the products’ appeal to the mass consumers. He says that the phones are manufactured in China but are customized with apps and features by Filipino software developers.
MyPhone’s popularity was also helped by celebrity endorsers like Dingdong Dantes and Sarah Geronimo, who appeal to the masa.
“When everybody else was trying to look like a Nokia, MyPhone has its own identity from the very beginning. They call us ‘baduy’ but that’s fine as long as we are selling lots of phones,” says Lim.
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