Nokia unveils new moves to firm up leadership, connect the unconnected

Exclusive from Singapore

In what is described as a most expressive move to reinforce its leadership, enhance customer experience and a significant step to connect the unconnected with affordability, global industry giant Nokia yesterday in Singapore unveiled a series of new initiatives.

Given the significance of the aggressive push and demonstration of its new strategy announced in February in action, Nokia President and CEO Stephen Elop was at hand for the launch at the event titled ‘Nokia Connection 2011’ to coincide with CommunicAsia 2011, the region’s biggest IT and telecom gathering in Singapore. “Earlier this year, we outlined a comprehensive strategy to change our course. Innovation is at the heart of our strategy and today we took important steps to demonstrate a new pace of innovation at Nokia. It’s the beginning of a new season and a new era for Nokia,” Elop said in what was his first major speech in Asia since becoming CEO.

At ‘Nokia Connection,’ to which Daily FT was invited, Nokia demonstrated how the company was making significant progress on the new strategy it laid out earlier this year.

From smartphones to mobile phones, from services to user interface design, and from improved device experiences to developer tools, Nokia outlined concrete actions for growth and taking leadership across the board.

More than 1.3 billion people connect to one another with a Nokia, from most affordable voice-optimised mobile phones to advanced internet-connected smartphones sold in virtually every market in the world.

Nokia used to dominate in Asia by accounting for at least eight out of every 10 phones sold but of late its share in the region and globally has slipped. To appeal for the low and mid-segment of mobile phones, Nokia yesterday introduced three new affordable devices – the Nokia C2-02, Nokia C2-03 and Nokia C2-06. The portfolio includes dual and single SIM options, and all three models offer a new, advanced web and maps experience for Series 40 phone users, as well as the choice of a touch screen or a keypad.



Nokia also restated its commitment to Symbian. This July, Nokia will start shipping Nokia N8s, E7s, C7s and C6-01s with the new Symbian Anna software update, which includes a number of user experience improvements.

By the end of August, existing owners of these devices can also download Symbian Anna. And over the next 12 months Nokia plans to bring up to 10 new Symbian-based smartphones to market.

To win the smart phone segment Nokia said it will later this year launch the first Windows phone whilst yesterday it revealed its latest high end smartpone the N9, an all-screen device with three home views and a new user interface navigated through a simple swipe of the finger.

The Nokia N9 comes in a polycarbonate design that enables superior antenna performance for better reception, better voice quality and fewer dropped calls; and a smarter all-round experience with Near Field Communication (NFC) for sharing and pairing to accessories.

The new innovations and future plans were shared with customers, partners, developers, operators and media across the Asian region.

Nokia also said the new N9 will drive new innovation in the consumer experience, and inspire developers to build more powerful Qt applications.

The Qt framework is at the core of Nokia’s existing smartphone product line, and today there are more than 100 million Nokia Qt devices worldwide. Ovi Store consumers are downloading an increasing number of Qt applications, including in high-growth markets like Asia-Pacific. Tapping into this trend,

Nokia will make Qt core to building applications that connect the next billion users to the internet. For Qt developers, this will mean a dramatic increase in reach and opportunity during the coming years.

Mary McDowell, the Head of Nokia’s Mobile Phones business unit; Marco Argenti, Senior Vice President Developer and Marketplace; Neil Gordon Vice President, Sales Southeast Asia Pacific; and Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia’s Head of Design spoke at the event.

Softlogic is the authorised distributor and marketer of Nokia phones in Sri Lanka.

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