Till now, Fairphone has been a distinct segment participant with its concentrate on modularity, repairability and sustainability, however the firm now has a brand new CEO and desires to make a a lot larger affect than earlier than. Reinier Hendriks, the brand new boss, beforehand labored at Vodafone and KPN and joined Fairphone from Leaseweb. Whereas he does not have expertise in smartphone manufacturing per se, he believes his function is to “perceive the shopper,” and that is the identical throughout industries.
Hendriks has huge plans for the model. Fairphone will launch in 23 further markets this 12 months; Austria and Switzerland are already underway, and a gross sales associate for the UK can also be being sought. Operators and distributors in these markets will supply Fairphone units, making them rather more seen than ever.
The brand new CEO desires to finally purpose for the value of €400, which is round €300 lower than the Fairphone 5, the latest mannequin, are on the lookout for. To attain that feat, Fairphone is collaborating extra carefully with Google and Qualcomm.
Hendriks claims that the present mannequin “satisfies 80% of buyer wants”, which isn’t sufficient to win over a major variety of shoppers; Actually, the model solely bought 235,000 models final 12 months, most of them in Germany (which is considered one of its largest markets together with the Netherlands).
To place it in perspective, it is value noting that the entire smartphone market in Germany final 12 months was 20 million. To be greater than a blip on the radar, Fairphone should far exceed 80% of buyer wants. Hendriks says folks need to make a contribution (to sustainability), however they do not need to sacrifice every little thing else within the course of.
And that looks as if a strong thought. Let’s hope the model can ship as it’s fairly distinctive within the smartphone house. And that uniqueness doesn’t go unnoticed by Hendriks, who has fashioned a staff working to convey his message by way of new advertising channels.
Fountain (in German)