About this episode

The episode discusses how Transsion Holdings successfully captured the African cell phone market by tailoring its products to local needs.

Shenzhen-based Transsion Holdings is now a massive Chinese technology company that few people outside of Africa and certain parts of Asia have heard of. Even in China, the brand, now the world's 5th-largest mobile phone producer, remains largely unknown. Transsion gained notoriety after it entered the African market in 2006. Back then, the world's largest phone brands all but ignored African consumers, selling low-end, late-model devices designed primarily for Western and Asian consumers. The Chinese company saw an opportunity and tweaked the software on its phones to optimize photos for darker skin tones, and added a suite of features like dual SIM cards, dustproofing, and longer battery life to sell sub-$100 phones to Africa's booming youth market. That formula worked, and the company's three brands, Tecno, Infinix, and iTel, have dominated the market for more than a decade. But little is known about how Transsion achieved its success in Africa. Lu Miao, an assistant professor at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, joins Eric & Cobus to lay out the company's strategy and why it was so effective in a market that others largely ignored. Purchase the book: The Transsion Approach…

People in this episode

Hosts: Eric, Cobus

Guest: Lu Miao

Topics covered

• African mobile market
• Chinese technology
• Transsion Holdings
• product design
• market strategy
• youth market

Keywords

• Transsion Holdings
• mobile phones
• Africa
• dual SIM cards
• youth market
• technology strategy
• product features

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Transsion Holdings, Lingnan University

Books & works: The Transsion Approach: Translating Chinese Mobile Technology in Africa

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