Nokia, the Finnish company, has been an undisputed leader in the mobile phone market till the arrival of smart phones. Nokia established itself as a leader when European GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology clearly over took American CMDA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology across the globe. With the advent of smart phones, the dynamics of the market has also changed.
The market has been witnessing a constant change. The key now is in identifying the next trend ahead of market.
India is the world's largest youth market ahead of China. The smart phones and other applications (apps) associated with them are catching like wild fire among youth. Nokia wants to focus its energies on the youth in the coming years. Smart and touch type phones are growing by 46 per cent.
The number of apps in the mobile business is also growing and every day new apps are generated. Nokia wants to capitalise on this segment, says D. Shivakumar, Managing Director, Nokia India.
At the company's annual strategic meeting held at Udaipur, Mr. Shivakumar said that Nokia India would have local content in global context in the apps segment. “The apps market is also moving in that direction. Nokia will grow its market share through innovation and new business model,” he added. The mobile apps market was dominated by games and music. Nokia would deeply penetrate into utility apps market such as healthcare, agriculture, education and banking, he added. This could be possible only if the mobile market moved from penetration economy to consumption economy. The aspiration level of the people should also increase.
It is estimated that India would account for 13.4 per cent of the global handset market by 2013. Today, the total India market is 1.4 billion.
Though the company is strategically located at the top in the mobile market along with its competitors such as Samsung and Apple, it had been facing the heat from the entry and high-end phone segment over the last one-and-half years. Now, it has decided to fight back in the domestic market by bringing in duel SIM (subscriber identification module) models by launching the Asha 200 (Rs.4,759) and X2-02 (Rs.4,165).
“Our mistake was that we did not have duel SIM models at the right time. It was a failing on my and the organisation part. Over the next years, we will have representation in the entire range,” he said. In the duel SIM segment, Nokia has now six models. It has also come out with other innovations such as touch-n-type range and the duel swap function on phones, which permitted easy switching up to five SIM cards.
In the high-end smart phone segment, where it competes with large players such as Apple iPhone and the Google's Android-based devices, it is launching the Lumia range of mobiles in mid-December. These products will play an important role along side its existing Symbian Operating System (OS)-based smart phone.
