Karbonn Mobiles
Karbonn is an Indian multinational technology company, that manufactures feature phones, smartphones, tablets and mobile phone accessories. The company was founded in March 2009, headquartered in Delhi, India. Karbonn is a joint venture between United Telelinks Ltd., a Bangalore-based firm and Jaina Marketing Pvt. Ltd., headquartered in New Delhi.
Karbonn Mobiles also has tie ups with leading telecom players like Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Jio. Karbonn operates in countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen, United Kingdom and parts of Europe.
History
The company struck a deal with Eros International, the makers of the Rajinikanth-starrer film Kochadaiyaan. The deal involved the manufacture of five lakh items of Kochadaiyaan merchandise with screen savers and images from the film, the trailer, behind-the-scenes shots, the signature tune of the film, and the lead actor's signature on the back cover of phones.Karbonn ties with online digital entertainment service provider Hungama.com and has an app preinstalled.
In October 2012, Karbonn announced the launch of their brand extension 'Karbonn Smart'. The range included a smart tab and smartphones based on the Android operating system. In February 2014, Microsoft announced Karbonn as a hardware partner of the Windows Phone operating system.
Karbonn Sparkle V is one of the initial Android One phones manufactured by Karbonn Mobiles in cooperation with Google Inc.
Brand
Karbonn was ranked the 77th most trusted brand in India among 1,200, by The Brand Trust Report 2014, a study conducted by brand analytics company Trust Research Advisory. In the 2017 edition of the report, it stands at the 350th position among 1,000 Indian companies surveyed.Karbonn is the first Android One phone to be sold in Europe : Karbonn Sparkle V2. The company entered the UK market through Amazon.co.uk
In 2019, Gionee's Indian subsidiary was acquired by the promoters of Karbonn. In 2020 they announced Gionee Mobile as a sub-brand of Karbonn.
In March 2022, Karbonn announced that it would undergo liquidation as the company has been facing a severe revenue decline due to the pandemic.