Philips, which used to manufacture Radio sets, Stereo Cassette players and Turntables in Tanzania right from their currently defunct factory at Arusha, is now returning into the country with new mobile phones.
And No, Philips won’t be building phones in Tanzania, but the company seems to be attempting to penetrate the country’s rather oversaturated market for smart communication gadgets with their ‘Essence,’ line of mobile phones.
Philips Mobile Tanzania has launched an official Facebook page advertising the handsets and claiming the phones should be available in all retail outlets across the nation.
But smartphones are not HiFi equipment, Tanzania is already filled up with them, from the cheap but used high-end gadgets, affordable new Chinese knockoffs, counterfeit lookalikes, phoney phones and even handsets stolen from beyond borders are dime a dozen.
While selling new smartphones in Tanzania needs luck, miracles and vulture’s patience, Philips’ new handsets won’t make anyone break a bank in order to afford them, therefore with proper marketing the mostly 4G phones can earn a respectable niche market.
Philips claims their handsets feature big batteries at 5000mAh and retailing at 270,000/- per piece new out of the box. This is half the price of a used (second-hand) smartphone by Sony, another old HiFi and TV producing company turned into phones.
But Sony, just like their counterpart dinosaurs, Panasonic haven’t exactly been selling many phones in Tanzania, possibly due to selected availability points and towering price tags.
Philips has chopped down prices and all the company needs now is to make their products as readily available as Samsung or the Chinese knockoffs such as Tecno and Infinix.
But to gain an even upper hand, Philips must ensure that their phones are as tough as those built by Caterpillar and as reliable as those produced by Asus’ Republic of Gamers, with good cameras like Sony and image Processing power of iPhones.
Philips claims 50 Megapixels on their shooter lenses, but that is on paper, not in real life.
And for the older generations stuck in a melancholy past, Philips can provide the required solace and warm assurance that the company which they grew up with is making phones for them.
Most households in Tanzania still own old Philips Irons to address their laundries.
Some even older citizens in Tanzania continue to cling tightly onto their tried and tested Philips branded portable Radio sets.
Since the company’s trademark logo has not changed either, a Philips handset can still offer that ‘old friend over hot cup of coffee,’ feeling.
Philips History in Tanzania
Philips is an electronics company which was founded in 1891, by Dutch family of entrepreneurs Gerard Philips and his father Frederik Philips.
In the 60s, 70, and 80s Philips manufactured Radio sets and Cassette players in Tanzania from their Arusha -based plant and the domestic electronics equipment made in Northern Tanzania were exported in other East and Central African countries.
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