William Hamilton-Whyte, country manager of Nokia Philippines, formally unveiled in the local market a slew of Internet-enabled entry-level phones and solutions that are specifically aimed at emerging countries like the Philippines. Phone makers, including Nokia, may be churning out touch-screen units continuously nowadays but the Finnish phone firm does not see these models completely obliterating the traditional phones with keypads or keyboards.
William Hamilton-Whyte, country manager of Nokia Philippines, said in a recent press briefing that while the company is riding the touch-screen wave pretty well with its Nokia XpressMusic 5800 touch-screen model, the possibility that all phones will become touch-screen is still very far off
“I don’t see it happening yet. What Nokia is doing now is to give consumers choices so they can pick whatever type of phone they want,” said Hamilton-Whyte, disclosing that the company will launch in the country its new flagship model N97 touch-screen this third quarter.
So far, the XpressMusic 5800, Nokia’s first touch-screen phone, has been able to hold its own against other touchscreen models available in the local market. Apple’s iPhone, however, is still king of the hill even if some consumers have decried it being difficult to use for text messaging.
