Kalistani Major History

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KalMD's Model 1 sells out; KalMM looks for expansionFirst 10,000 sell in first day, second run of 25,000 sell in six weeks
Sulari, Suldanor
March 1, 4445


A typical Kalistani cellphone store.  In this photo, there are 52 different types of cellphones from 16 different countries, all after-market

Kalistani Microdivision's first product, the Model 1, has exceeded sales expectations for the first two months of 4445.  35,000 units have already been sold, and the third run of 50,000 devices has already been pre-sold.  KalMD spokesperson Jeffery Edwards, said "It is very positive news for our investors.  The Pricepoint we have set is significantly higher than our competitors, but the survey groups we've held tend to focus on the lifestyle value of owning the phone.  It's not so much that the product is superior to even foreign imports.  It clearly is not superior.  But our consumers are thrilled to be a part of owning a product which is Kalistani made, and benefits Kalistani citizens.  We all know someone who knows someone with a job in Suldanor because we are working in this field.  Coming in from the recession, Kalistanis are happy to be back to work, and our marketing has focused on this:  A Kalistani product for Kalistani Citizens."

As the new KalMM operation spins up, KalMD looks to benefit.  "We hope that KalMM gets into R&D as well as battery life and internet connectivity," said Edwards.  "Right now, our price point keeps us from serving more than a niche consumer base.  R&D is the biggest non-labor cost we face right now.  As we earn more money and dump all of our profit into R&D, especially around connectivity and battery life, we will see our prices go down and our sales go up.  We can already say for sure that the Model 2 will be light years ahead of the Model 1, both in terms of features, and in terms of price.  But for now, we are working with the Model 1."

The Model 1 has received strong reviews from Kalistani consumers, mostly around the pride they felt in owning Kalistani technology.  Complaints were of a more practical sort:  The price was too high compared to even models with more features, battery life was short, there was a distinct lack of apps and features, no internet connectivity, and Kalistan's Mobile infrastructure, designed to service a hodgepodge of foreign technology, didn't work as well with new Kalistani protocols. 

"Unfortunately, since every other country who dumps their gear off on Kalistan comes with its own Mobile tower protocols, each tower is more like a tower farm designed to service all these crazy foreign protocols and get them to speak to one another," says KalMM CEO Michelle Marks-Bennots.  "It truly is a mess.  One aspect our engineers will work on is the development of a single protocol relay system that will allow all the cell phones to talk to one another over one single network.  This is only possible now that we have a research and development infrastructure up and running in Kalistan, and will solve a very fundamental problem with having all these countries with their own rules and regulations about their own cell networks which are incompatible with one another.  We are about 8-10 months away from solving this problem, and when we do, it will result in massive savings for Kalistan's mobile infrastructure.  But we are not quite there yet."

KalMM looks to also expands into the realm of non-phone mobile devices.  Its corporate HQ is set up and the first OEM Plant in Sulari is being brought online.