Vodafone India Intros Solar-Powered Handset

Vodafone has used the occasion of the massive British delegation to India to announce the launch of the VF 247 solar-powered handset.

The VF 247 is targeted at India’s massive rural market, where lackluster infrastructure leaves residents with a power supply that is unreliable or even nonexistent. Rather than be dependent on this most undependable grid, users of the VF 247 can use the power of the sun to fully recharge in 8 hours under direct sunlight, or longer in indirect or ambient sunlight. Freeing users from dependence on electrical infrastructure further opens up the possibility for penetration of mobile phones into the Indian heartland.

Manufactured by China’s ZTE, the VF 247 will retail for about Rs.1500 (€25) starting next month.

What we think:

This is actually not the first solar-powered handset in India (that honor goes to last year’s Samsung Solar Guru), it marks the latest effort from Vodafone to differentiate itself from other Indian carriers.

There are six general strategic means along which a mobile carrier can differentiate itself:

1. Tariffs
2. Network coverage, quality, and technology
3. Exclusive handsets
4. VAS
5. Customer service
6. Brand desirability

Among these six, 3) exclusive handsets is surely the least attempted here in India, due in no small part to the fact that the Indian market just happened to evolve without the carrier-handset tie-ups that characterize other countries. Vodafone India has dabbled with exclusive handsets on the high end (having a monopoly on the Blackberry Storm and a duopoly with Airtel on the iPhone), but the Vodafone-branded VF 247, hot on the heels of Vodafone’s V150 (the world’s cheapest phone), marks what could be a concerted effort by Vodafone to bring a competitive advantage of exclusive handsets to the broader mass Indian market.

Will other carriers follow suit?

Every company is in search of competitive advantage that cannot be easily replicated by others. As a global company, Vodafone has terrific economies of scale—the same VF 247 designed for India can, and will, be sold in South Africa, Egypt, and other countries in which Vodafone has a presence. With so many potential customers, Vodafone can order massive quantities of handsets that its other competitors simply cannot match (though Bharti Airtel’s purchase of Zain’s African operations may soon begin to change that).

As an aside, it might also be worth it to keep an eye on ZTE as they serve as an OEM for carriers; once upon a time, that’s all HTC was too.