With an eye on more than half a billion Muslim consumers in Asia, a Dubai-based consortium expects religious applications on its new handset line to help it trump more established brand-name mobile phones.
The Ilkone group plans to expand the release of its i800 GPRS phone, which is packed with unique functions for Muslims including an automatic directional guide to Mecca, precise calls to prayer in more than 5,000 cities worldwide, and the full electronic text of the Koran, with English translation.
'It is our target to seize 3 to 5 per cent market share within the next two years,' said Andrew Pang, director at Ilkone Asia in Singapore. This would be quite a coup for Ilkone - which derived its name from an Arab word meaning 'universe' - since distribution has so far been limited even in the Middle East.
The clamshell-design, colour-screen i800 was introduced early this year in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Sudan and Algeria, and will also be scheduled for release in Qatar, Bahrain and Iran.
'For the rest of Asia, we will start with strong Muslim countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei,' Mr Pang said. 'We will gradually expand to the Philippines, Australia and other parts of the region.'
Recent company announcements said the Ilkone i800 was to be available in Indonesia and Brunei from the end of last month, in Malaysia this month, and in India, Bangladesh and Singapore next month.
At about US$400, the South Korean-made i800 phone comes in a conservative silver, blue, gold or white case. It supports both Arabic and English text input. All of its religious mobile applications were developed in Australia. Research and development work on the i800 started in 2002, with the focus on creating a suitable design and adding functionality that would appeal to Muslims around the world.