Nokia Thailand plans a strategic shift away from high-end handsets to focus on growth in the mid- to low-priced segments next year in line with rougher economic conditions.
The Finnish world market leader is likely to review global handset unit sales projections in light of weakening demand reported by major handset makers, but it did not provide figures.
Presenters show off the Nokia XpressMusic5800 model at a briefing in Bangkok yesterday. The newphone has a 3.2-inch touch screen and a 3.2-megapixel camera, and is 3G-compatible.
Nontawan Sindhvananda, head of product and service planning of Nokia Thailand, said the company’s flagship products next year would be handsets priced from 1,000 to 10,000 baht.
She said the replacement market had fuelled growth this year, accounting for up to 90% of total mobile handset sales.
In Bangkok, she said, customers were changing their handsets every six to eight months, while provincial users bought new phones every 20-25 months.
Ms Nontawan admitted that Nokia had inevitably been affected by the economic slowdown. While declining to offer figures, she said the company was satisfied with its sales performance this year amid the unfavourable situation.
“We are still confident that we will be able to maintain our leading position in the local mobile handset market this year, thanks to the full range of our product portfolio,” she said.
Nokia introduced a total of 26 handset models this year. Its popular models include music phones, stylish models and the N-series and E-series handsets for tech-savvy customers.
Nokia yesterday introduced new music phones that will be available in the Thai market next year. The touch-screen Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has a 3.2-inch display and a 3.2-megapixel camera, and is 3G-compatible.
Nokia will continue gearing up its products and services strategy with the bundling of Ovi, a web portal for wireless internet services, with Nokia’s services to keep expanding sales and revenue.
