Lenovo to open 400 more Moto Hubs by July-end.

Lenovo-owned smartphone maker Motorola said recently it will set up 400 more Moto Hubs by July-end, taking the number of such outlets to 1,000.

Moto Hubs are experience zones set up by the company along with its retail partners so that customers can see the entire Motorola product range - including the models sold exclusively online - under one roof. Lenovo has also tied up with retailers such as Reliance Digital, MyJio stores and Sangeetha Mobiles to showcase its products.

“We have opened 600 Moto Hubs over the last few months all over the country, and we are looking for at least 400 more to make it 1,000 by the end of next month,” Shashank Sharma, Executive Director and Asia Pacific Leader, Lenovo Mobile Business Group and Motorola, told BusinessLine on the sidelines of a product launch here.

“We back it up with a reliable service and that is something we have invested in over the past four-five months. Service now in India is becoming much more important,” he said.

The company has opened 140 dedicated service points, where products are repaired within two hours.

“More than 70 per cent of the customers are given back repaired smartphones within two hours. That is something which we will keep on improving so that the customers do not waste time on repeated visits,” Sharma said, adding that all the service centres in eight metros are open seven days a week.

Sharma, who is also the company’s interim Head for India Business after Sudhin Mathur quit in April, said there will soon be a new person to look after the Lenovo-Motorola vertical in the country.

While he declined to name the person, sources said Prashanth Mani will take over as Managing Director of Lenovo-Motorola in India in a few days. He is currently serving his notice as Vice-President of Retail at Samsung India.

Motorola on Monday launched two new handsets — Moto g6 and g6 Play, priced at Rs. 13,999 and Rs. 11,999 respectively. The Moto g6 will be sold exclusively on Amazon and at Moto Hubs, and available in 3GB/32GB and 4GB/64GB variants.

The g6 Play will be sold exclusively through Flipkart and Moto Hub stores, the company said.

The smartphones have glass design and feature the speed and power of Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, it added.

The g6 has 14.5 cm Full HD + Max Vision display, 3D glass back, dual rear 12MP + 5MP cameras, multifunctional fingerprint reader, 16MP front-facing camera with low light mode and a 3,000 mAh battery.

The g6 Play has 13MP camera and 8MP selfie camera with an LED flash that includes beautification mode. It has a 4,000 mAh battery that can last up to 36 hours on a single charge, the company said.

HBL