New UK smartphone manufacturing firm IMO (In My Opinion) believes it can grab a 3% share of the UK market within its first year of operation.
The manufacturer is UK based and backed by Chinese investors, coming under the umbrella of parent company Verve Connect.
The first three handsets released by IMO will target the sub-£100 market area, which has been abandoned by many of the big name smartphone manufacturers in the last few years.
At the launch of its latest set of handsets, IMOâs Head of Sales and Propositions, Nigel Whitehead, said that major deals with several important players in the UK smartphone market will help to establish the brand in the UK.
Whitehead commented: We believe that 3% is a realistic target for our first 12 months. Weâre working with a number of established partners such as Virgin, Argos and ASDA to make our name this year.
Weâll be looking to add more retail partners as we move forward and in 2017 work with the larger carriers and operators.
When asked why the company chose to launch in the UK first, IMO said that the UK was one of the most liberal country markets with regard to regulation and an openness to new brands.
IMO has already secured Virgin Media as one of its launch partners and the manufacturer revealed that it will be offering a tastecard for new customers with some handsets to encourage more people to purchase their products.
Director of Mobile at Virgin Media, Annie Brooks, said: With IMO weâre bringing an exciting, fresh mobile brand into the UK and helping our customers to enjoy on-the-go connectivity, with quality smartphones at an affordable price.
The new IMO Q phone is a 4-inch midget phone but is priced at almost a tenth of the similarly-sized iPhone SE, starting from just £29.99.
