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Journalism of Courage
American watchmaker Timex has entered the smartband market with two Ironman activity trackers. For now, the two models, Move X20 and Run X20, will be available exclusively on Amazon.in.
“The initial response has been very good and we old over 35 watches in the first hour,” said Anupam Mathur, head of sales and marketing at Timex Group India Ltd. The Move X20 is priced Rs 8,995, while the Run X20 with GPS is priced Rs 11,995. The company is offering an EMI scheme to make the bands more attractive to the Indian market.
For now, the biggest USP for Times smartbands seems to be Timex’s large service network, as after-sales service is hard to find for the other brands in this space. Mathur said the company is looking at selling half a million smartbands and smartwatches in India within a couple of years.
“Timex is known globally for watches that are heavy on technology and good for the outdoors. But in India we have been selling gold watches for two decades. We want to shake off that legacy,” says Mathur, adding that the mantra now is smart, not gold.
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Timex is promoting the IronMan range in India by focusing on the usability of the smartbands and not their specs like with other tech-driven companies. “With the ‘Show yourself what you can do’ campaign we are focusing on usability without going deep down into specs,” says Mathur.
This is the first time that a watchmaker has entered the smartband/smartwatch segment in India, till now a preserve of handset manufacturers like Samsung and Sony. “A reputed watchmaker entering into this space will have an immediate advantage since they can leverage their expertise in watch design and brand name,” says Indranil Dutta, Insights Director, eTech: IT & Telecom Practice at IMRB International.
Watch this space for a detailed review.
