Struggling Nokia unveils next-generation smartphones

Technology
NEW DELHI (AFP) – Struggling Finnish handset giant Nokia unveiled
on Thursday its next-generation of lower-end mobile smartphones as
it seeks to gain traction in a market expected to be worth $15 billion
by 2015.
Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop released the $99 Asha 501
touchscreen Internet-enabled model at a global launch in New Delhi
that especially targets emerging market users moving up from their
no-frills first mobile phones.
India, the world’s second-largest mobile market after China, “is very
important” for Nokia, Elop told reporters, fresh from a bruising
meeting in Helsinki earlier this week with shareholders unhappy at
Nokia’s poor earnings.
The country of 1.2 billion people, Nokia’s second-biggest market in
2012, is a “bellwether market that is a very leading indicator of some
trends”, he said.
The Asha 501 borrows some of its looks from Nokia’s higher
specification Windows-based Lumia phone and is aimed at stopping
consumers embracing Google’s Android software offered on cheaper
handsets made typically in China.
Elop, who took the reins of Nokia three years ago and is facing
demands from shareholders to review his controversial move to
switch over to Microsoft’s Windows software, declined to comment
directly on Nokia’s financial performance.
Nokia, which reported a $355-million first quarter net loss, is
struggling to recover ground in the smartphone line after its number
of smartphones sold worldwide fell by 49 percent in the first quarter.
Analysts say the once-global leader’s future may lie in selling budget
smartphones in emerging markets such as India and Africa where
penetration is still relatively low.
But the Finnish company faces stiff competition from Apple and
Samsung as well as from Chinese and Taiwanese handset makers.
It is seeking to ramp up its smartphone portfolio in the sub-$100
smart phone market which the company estimates will be worth $15
billion globally by 2015.
The Asha 501 — Asha means “hope” in Hindi — claims to offer 17
hours of talk time and 48 days of standby time. Nokia will start
shipping the device to vendors worldwide in June and the phone will
be available in 90 countries.
The new phone “raises the bar for what is possible in affordable
smartphone design,” Nokia mobile executive vice president Timo
Toikkanen said.
The Asha 501 will initially be a 2G phone “as 80 percent of the world
operates in 2G environment”, said Elop, but Nokia will widen the
range to include 3G phones as well.