Salman to Launch Smartphone Company After Being Human’s Success

Khan has registered the trademark ‘Being Smart’ for entry-to-mid level smartphones.

Being Smart will combine with Salman Khan’s ‘Being Human’ venture (Photo: PTI)

After launching several hit movies and spearheading the ‘Being Human’ Campaign, actor Salman Khan is looking to launch a smartphone venture. He has already approached a number of investors for the venture, in which he may take a majority shareholding directly or through his family.

According to two top executives cited by The Economic Times, Khan is currently assembling a team of operation managers to be headed by a professional with leadership stints at Samsung and Micromax

Khan has registered the trademark ‘Being Smart’ for smartphones targeted at the entry-to-middle-market segment.

According to one of the two experts:

Being Smart will be positioned against the Chinese smartphone brigade – Oppo, and Xiaomi – at a time domestic handset makers such as Micromax and Intex are facing tremendous competition And, like the Being Human apparel line, proceeds from the profits will be ploughed back into charity and social work that Salman Khan does with his Being Human Foundation.

Like many of his compatriots in the entertainment industry, Salman Khan joins his peer Shah Rukh Khan in branching into businesses other than film production. Khan has already used his popularity to run a number of successful brands, which operate several outlets in various cities selling fashion accessories and apparel.

The executives added that the Being Smart smartphones will initially be sold online and later through strategic partnerships with a few large retail chains. They may also be sold in Being Human stores. A small group of executives, along with members of the Khan family, are working out the details, they said.

A share of the profits are said to be put into the ‘Being Human Foundation, which is a charitable trust established in 2007 and is “working in the areas of education and healthcare for the underprivileged” according to their website.

Khan had earlier launched the “Being in Touch” app on the app store and the Google play store early this year, giving fans access to all things about Salman Khan, from all his social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) to previously unseen pictures, to videos of the star directly speaking to his fans and sharing interesting bits of his life with them.