It’s raining mobile phones these days. New breed of Indian companies as well as their foreign counterparts are launching their phones in India (expect Android to fuel more action in this industry)
And as a consumer, you are probably confused which phone to buy? There are cheesy brand names (BlackCherry?) and ofcourse, there are companies like Micromax etc who are spending a lot of money to increase adoption.
PhoneCurry, a Delhi based startup brings comparison across different mobile phones based on features. The startup has defined each and every possible parameter that is comparison worthy (price, flip, slider, side slider, FM, 3G support, dual sim, touch screen, keyboard, voice dialing, TV out, GPS etc) making it easy for one to search for the right handset based on preferred features.
The company fetches pricing information (of mobile phones) from Naaptol (BCCL has a stake in Naaptol) and for most of the MNC brands, there are User/Expert opinion that company fetches from different sources .
Essentially,phonecurry serves ‘Browse’ based intent vs. search, and can answer questions like ‘show me a phone that has <abcd> features and fall under <x> price range’. The startup has tried its best to demystify some of the tech jargons in the form of helper texts to help understand the features.
Challenge Ahead
Call to Action – i.e. once I have selected Brand X, what do I do? PhoneCurry should take me to a merchant site (lead generation / affiliate model) in order to complete the process.
SEO, again is a big challenge. Mobile/Gadgets are the most ‘abused’ keywords and a new site will have a tough time finding its ground when a lot of Indian gadget sites are taking inspiration from Endgadget/Gizmodo etc and beating the hell out of Google with SEOed keywords.
Having said that, social channel is what can drive the usage of PhoneCurry – the site has a neat UI, focused approach to solving a problem which will multiply in the coming days and building a ‘wow’ experience (360 degree) is what can drive the adoption.
Do give PhoneCurry a spin and share your feedback.
Also see: Wisdomtap – Find right products (based on rating/reviews across the web)