Nokia unveils new range of mobile phones

by Elmo Leonard

Nokia, reputed as the world's most numerous producer of mobiles, had its representatives in Colombo recently, and conducted its first dealer conference, here. Nokia disclosed diverse projections including the introduction of its new range of mobiles into the local market.

Prem Chand, Nokia's General Manager for emerging Asia, customer and market operations, Asia Pacific, said that these new products underscore Nokia's commitment to offer a range of mobile phones that give consumers the choice of selecting the right balance of technology and design to meet their lifestyle and budget.

Chand, unveiled two mid-range models - the Nokia 6300 and Nokia 6290 as well as the Nokia 2626 targeted at consumers in entry markets. The three models are expected to be shipped in the first quarter of 2007. This range was launched at the Nokia World Conference, held a week earlier in Amsterdam.

Nokia, coinciding, met the media for the first time, here. Sri Lanka was identified as a high potential market in South Asia. Over 50 percent of 75,000 - 100,000 mobiles are sold per month in Sri Lanka; 80 percent of Nokias sold are fake. "It's not worth the trouble buying a counterfeit Nokia for a little less, and holding onto a sick child." Buy from the authorised dealer and Softlogic is our sole distributor in Sri Lanka," Chand said.

The Nokia team showcased the next generation mobile technologies in the areas of music experiences, 3G applications and the local language phone support.

In Amsterdam, Nokia had acknowledged that the mobility industry was accelerating faster than predicted earlier, and would reach three billion mobile subscriptions globally in 2007. Nokia has also forecast four billion mobile subscriptions during 2010, Chand said.

Music, mobile TV and navigation services will play a key role in driving this growth, both in advanced and emerging markets where in the latter, increasing numbers of people are accessing internet for the first time on their mobile rather than on a PC.

Reflecting this, Nokia says that its replacement market will account for about 65 percent of the global market this year and that this figure is expected to rise to over 80 percent by year 2010.

Nokia's Sinhala language support is provided for its latest range of mobile phones which includes the Nokia 2610, Nokia 2310, Nokia 1600, Nokia 1112, Nokia 1600, Nokia 1112, Nokia 1110i and Nokia 1110. The local language features include Sinhala text messaging, a talking alarm, a speaking clock, a Sinhala iconic interface, keypad and games.

The Sinhala language phone project involved Nokia research and development teams in Finland, Denmark and China in the creation of these phones. Nokia was supported by Ravi Abeysekera and his team at Dialog Telekom, Dr. Gihan Dias of the University of Moratuwa and Ms Samanthi Weeratunga of Softlogic in the development and testing of their first Sinhala language mobiles.

In addition to being a first mover in the area of local language support, Nokia is delivering on its "3G for everyone" concept by introducing "affordable" and feature-rich 3G handsets.

Nokia claims that another important factor for 3G propagation is giving first time users the best possible end-user experience. Nokia has been focusing heavily on this aspect and recently shared the findings of an extensive consumer study, considered to be the most comprehensive research of the mobile industry to date, covering 42,000 interviews with consumers in 16 countries.

This has helped to categorise its consumer segments into four key areas, based on the end user experience, live, learn, explore, achieve. The Nokia 110i and the Nokia 6080 have been developed with "this insight to provide the exact end-user experience required."

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