French phone manufacturer Wiko makes a play for Nigeria

Wiko, a French phone manufacturer, is preparing to launch in Nigeria, one of the biggest mobile markets in Africa. On 22 October 20014 the company will introduce 10 of its devices to the country.

Ahead of the launch, Wiko was reported to have taken 12 channel partners on a pre-launch voyage to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. This was a gesture by the company to interact with its partners across the globe as it plans to roll out its products across the world.

Speaking about the launch in Dubai, John Peters, Country Sales Manager for Nigeria said, “The Dubai pre-launch function enabled channel partners from Nigeria to interact with other Wiko associates around the world so as to understand the Wiko brand culture, brand vision and brand attributes.”

Wiko’s entry into the Nigerian mobile market is part of its strategy to enter into the wider African mobile phone market. The venture began in Algeria, followed by Kenya and now Nigeria. The details of the Nigeria launch are at this point sketchy but looking at the launch in Kenya, there should not be much of a difference. Speaking at the Kenyan launch International Business Director of Wiko Global, Marcel Van de Pas, stated that:

“Wiko is excited to bring the brand to Kenyan consumers.” He added, “Wiko is confident that the combination of stylish design, technology, quality and pricing will be a huge success here.”

As was the case in Kenya, Wiko will probably introduce both its feature phones and smartphone lines in Nigeria. There has not been any data yet on how Wiko is doing in Kenya. In Nigeria, the company will face stiff competition. An infographic done by Co-Creation Hub Nigeria that was released in the last few months, shows that the most popular mobile phone in Nigeria is Nokia with 27.2 % of the market followed by BlackBerry.

Speaking at the Kenyan launch, which can be used as a benchmark for its African entry, Wiko said in regards to competition:

“It’s the competition that sees us as a threat. These brands are suffering from boredom, people know them, they are not new, it’s always the same thing. We are like the new kids on the block, something sexy and new and once you discover our quality price equation people will blown away and the competition can’t follow us because we offer a different approach.”

Wiko’s smartphone line sports Android KitKat 4.4 and its flagship model ‘Highwaty’ is one of several smartphones in the market using 2.0 GHz Octa-Core technology. It boasts a 7.7 mm thick dual SIM-enabled body, a full HD 5″ Gorilla glass screen, 16MP rear-facing camera,8MP front camera and internal storage of 16GB.

The success of Wiko in Africa is too premature to pass any informed judgement but a look at its performance in France gives an idea of how well it can do in other markets. In France, it is currently the second largest smartphone manufacturer with a 15% market share.

The company plans to launch in Morocco after Nigeria and the entire African continent by 2015.