How mobile tech underdogs could use the developing world to go mainstream

The Tecno Phantom A2; credit tecno-mobile

I've been thinking about underdogs in technology, especially when it comes to smartphone technology, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Ubuntu touch, Tizen OS, Firefox OS, HTC these are all underdogs today in the smartphone market dominated by Samsung, Apple and Google. None of them seems to be making a dent in the market dominated by the big 3. I think some of these underdogs are using a strategy that is unlikely to work by attempting to compete where the big dogs are strongest.
Why fight where you are most likely to lose? Whatever happened to live to fight another day? What I'm suggesting (Yes I am attempting to advise multi billion dollar corporations) is perhaps they should go back to the startup mentality. Embrace that they are the underdog and not as good as the big guys but find a place they can safely grow to outcompete the  big guys.

I think it would be best for them to have at the core of their growth developing world economies before the more advanced markets like the US and Europe. And yes this means they should hold off on the high end products and focus on the mid to low end of the market. From what I've seen so far, the little dogs grow up from where the big dogs aren't or can't play.

Reasons I believe tech underdogs should be focusing on the developing world:

Less competition: When it comes to high end products the developing world is more or less an afterthought. which makes sense because we don't have the money to pay for the high end stuff anyway. However, this means is you can easily sell a cheaper less featured product here without having your brand suffer too much because of constant comparison to the high end stuff; because let's face it if you are the underdog it is likely your product is not as good as that of the bigger guys. What you need is a place people won't be reminded how not as good it is while it grows.

Less litigation: For the most part products sold in developing countries seem to escape the patent and copyright related litigation that is associated with the more advanced markets. This means you just might get away with selling a product with "borrowed" features at a lower price than it would have been. If done right it could leave you a reputation of providing more value for money than competing products targeted for the developed markets.

Cheaper marketing: Developing world markets have an arguably easier to target audience, especially since there are few others clamoring for their attention; of course the market is also smaller but you wouldn't be in the developing market to primarily make money, you are here to launch your global takeover campaign.

You might be written off:  It is within the realm of possibility than you might be forgotten. In certain cases that might be a bad thing but if your brand suffered damage, and you want people to stop associating you with dinosaurs(blackberry), then it might be a good thing. You can come back in a such a way that they are so amazed by how you survived that they forget how much you sucked.

Its what you are: Its a bad thing to pretend to be as good as someone else and then fail. The developing world provides a place where you can compete as you are. Less effort in monetary terms and otherwise is required to reach the top of the market. So failure is less likely and if it does happen is less likely to be a spectacular failure.(If a tree falls in the forest and all that.)

Infact you can reinvent the wheel and reap much in the way of PR points. So you were late to the party in the big markets, well in the developing world you can pull off the same tricks and(more likely than elsewhere) get away with it.

We still think you are awesome: While a brand might lose its value in the more developed markets, the developing markets are often the last to figure out that what used to be cool isn't anymore. Up until two years ago blackberry's were still somewhat cool in Uganda its only the few techies who were lusting after the Iphone and galaxy S2. If  RIM had capitalised on this they might have kept a corner of the world where they still dominated.

We don't know you are the underdog: Seriously, there are a bunch of people in Uganda blackberry's and windows phone devices thinking they were buying some of the most popular smartphones in the world. And thats this year. When people in the developed markets don't see a phone with many people, they know its the underdog. In developing markets however, when I don't see it around too much and it looks good and shiny then I'm probably first to buy it and thats cool.

Developers:  Yes developing markets also have developers, and if yours is the platform most visible to them then they'll build on it and help it grow. It will also make your platform more relevant to the locals and thus create some inertia to protect you incase your scheming ever gets noticed  by the bigger guys.

We don't ask for as much: Fail to release a software update in the US and the internet will crucify you for it. Fail to do the same thing in Uganda and me as a techie might never buy from you again but most Ugandan's won't care that they haven't been upgraded to android 4.3. We have lower expectations and as a result as a tech company you won't have to do as much to impress. However overdo it and you'll find that even Ugandans have a limit to how much crap we can take.

There are precedents: Here are a few cases where I believe  this strategy played a big role in creating success:

• Android in no small part owes its rise to its early ubiquity in the low end of the smartphone world. Before the galaxy S4s and HTC ones there was the HTC wildfire and the myriad other brands of low end smartphones, that introduced the world to android. It is not so surprising then that the same markets where Android dominated in the low end early it is not dominating in the high end, and yet in the US where it was competing for the high end it still lags IOS.
• Meizu, Xiaomi, Oppo and a bunch of other chinese phone manufacturers. Many of whom started out making poor Iphone clones and now make some of the  best android phones in the world ... for China mostly so far.
• Samsung  yes samsung was initially kept afloat by owning the low end, I suspect they used their success in the mid to low range to finance their current dominance of of the high end.
• Tecno Mobile  When I got back to Uganda I found this company I had never heard of dominating the local market. A look at their website told me the biggest part of their growth strategy is Africa, and they are growing. Judging by the improving quality of their products, they seem to be making enough to keep improving anyway

Its not just mobile companies who can use this strategy. I think it is something that should be adopted or at the very least considered by anyone planning to bring his/her company from the bottom to global domination. First Uganda, and then the world....
disclosure: As a developer in Uganda, more smartphones here means more opportunities for me so this 'advice' is not entirely selfless.