“With the Centro, we are targeting the first-time smartphone users,” said Olivier Rozay, regional director, Asia Pacific, Palm Australasia Pty Ltd. India’s smartphone market was estimated to be close to 3.7 million units at the end of 2007 and is expected to reach 5.4 million units by the end of 2008.

The Centro is an entry-level smartphone and provides basic features like quadband GSM connectivity, Bluetooth and a modest 64 MB internal memory. It also has a FaceBook application and Google Maps that have been integrated with the phone’s contact list. However, the low-end 1.3 megapixel camera and absence of Wi-Fi prove to be the weak links.