Obi Mobiles, the new smartphone brand co-founded by veteran marketer and former Apple CEO John Sculley, is preparing an ambitious launch in to the Middle East market with a range of new products.

Singapore-headquartered Obi Mobiles is a venture of Sculley’s IT supply chain company, Inflexionpoint. It marked its global launch in India, with a bid to attract the large population of young and trendy smartphone users in the sub-continent. Senior management at Obi Mobiles confirmed that the Middle East and Africa region are next on the company’s rapid global expansion strategy.

John Sculley, co-founder and managing partner at Inflexionpoint, says: “Our vision is to use Obi’s success in each new market to create an international brand, especially targeted at the feature-rich and trendy smartphone segment.”

“Having launched in India with a better-than-anticipated response has helped us set the pace for the Obi expansion blueprint, and now we are expanding our strategy of effective brand building and marketing for superior mobile devices in other regions.

“The Mena region presents a huge opportunity for new smartphone devices, with about a huge margin of consumers in the mid and affordable smartphone segments. Consumers today want the best feature-rich smartphone experience at desirable price points, without compromising on quality.

“There is also a growing trend of feature phone users moving towards smartphones. Our analysis has revealed that consumers today are more likely to switch brands as long as they have sufficient incentive. Obi is uniquely positioned to leverage all these changing market dynamics.”

The Obi range includes mobile devices that run on Android Kit Kat platform, powered by multi-core processors, including an octa-core option, dual-SIM capabilities, large screen sizes and high quality camera options.

Amit Rupchandani, managing director for the Mena region at Obi Mobiles, said: “Obi is perfect for the growing number of aspirational mobile phone users in this region who desire the best smartphone experience without a huge financial investment. Our products are built to perform and deliver great quality results on every count.

“We are charting out our entry in to the Middle East market currently, and aim to rapidly grow in the region by forging synergies with effective channel partners. Obi will continue to expand extensively through 2015, with Africa and Latin America up on the list of priority markets.”

John Sculley is an internationally renowned marketing expert, entrepreneur and investor in high-tech start-ups. He was vice-president (1970–1977) and president of PepsiCo (1977–1983), until he became CEO of Apple in 1983, a position he held till 1993. – TradeArabia News Service