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When the iphone launched in India last September I resisted for approximately 36 hours. Then I found myself at the counter of a Vodafone outlet eagerly waiting for service activation. There were very few others like me.

For those 36 hours I experienced a rerun of all the images, videos, commercials and blogs that communicated to me what a cool thing the iphone is, and why it makes sense to have one. But, why did I resist for 36 hours?

A device like a cell phone falls into a complex category of decision-making (just like similar life and death decisions we make every now and then!). There are functional requirements to be met, personal pride, cost , peer pressure or recommendations etc. You get the picture right - lots of things to get right!

Like for a knowledgeable friend of mine -lets call him M - a phone with email, wifi, and a 3.2 MP camera, weighing under a 110gm was the requirement. I’m sure many people out there would have this requirement - people who have money to spend, who need to be connected without having to carry the burden of a heavy phone. A well defined target segment - right?

Now the reason for this story - which of the cell phone makers in India are advertising with a clear communication to this target segment? Or is it that they don’t see the need at all?

The Apple iphone’s India launch was quite cold actually. Nothing was done to build the hype. I did not even know the launch date till a few days before the actual launch. No communication what so ever from the makers or the service providers.  After the launch however there was a lukewarm TV and outdoor ad by one service provider; the other provider stuck to communication in print and on the envelopes of the bills mailed out to customers. But nothing that said anything beyond - oh its here, your wait is over.

This may just be the reason why a friend of mine says, it’s not that I don’t have the money to buy it, I don’t know if that’s what I need. Now she is not the type who will spend hours on the internet to find out, but she definitely is a person who will benefit from it. If only she knew how!! So who is to fill this gap?

For the well informed in India, email on phone is synonymous with a Blackberry. Very few understand the concept of push email in other phones (like the Nokia high-end phones or the iphone). From that perspective, Blackberry has wooed customers better with the ‘email on phone’ promise. Models like the Pearl and Storm did get considerable TV airtime. But has it been of use? Would someone from the ‘M’ target audience go and buy a Blackberry off the shelf after seeing those ads?

Nokia was probably the first to offer a business phone solution - what I like to call the 'pencil box' (any bigger and it can be a tiffin box also!) and what otherwise is called the 'communicator'. Now they have the 'E' series.  Something that can be a good fit to most in target 'M'. But with boring ads like these would there be user adoption. A few people might swear by their 'E' - but does Nokia know why, and use it to the brand’s advantage?

The iphone and Blackberry have their own set of firsts, and capitalize on them. The push mail, the touch screen without a stylus – are awesome features! What does the Nokia 'E' series have to attract such a fan following? And why cant Nokia ads take advantage of whatever that is?

Is this market for business phones so small and self-informed that advertisers feel they will make a sale - even though the messaging is vague, and not target-specific?