After facing tough competition in the entry and the high-end phone segments over the last one and a half years, Finnish telecom giant Nokia is now fighting back in the domestic market with a vengeance.
New dual-SIM models
A leader in the mobile handset market in India, which saw its market share diminishing in the recent past, the company now has an aggressive strategy in place with a focus on the youth segment – which already seems to be working. It has launched two new dual-SIM phones in the mid-segment, the Asha 200 (Rs 4,759) and X2-02 (60 euros).
“Our main target is the youth segment, broadly the 18-25 years age group. This does not mean we are limited to that,” said Mr Viral Oza, Director of Marketing, Nokia India.
The dual-SIM segment, where it has six models, has given it around half of its sales volumes over the last few months and helped it gain back its erstwhile position in the market. Other innovations that helped were the touch-n-type range and the dual swap function on phones which permitted easy switching of up to five SIM cards.
“One of our main mistakes was that we didn't have dual-SIM models at the right time. It was a failing on my and the organisation's part. We got 6-7 out of 10 things right, but this was a big miss. Over next year, we will have representation in entire range,” said Mr D. Shivakumar, Managing Director of Nokia India. Mr Shivakumar is soon expected to leave the country for a larger global role within Nokia.
Lumia launch
In the high-end smartphone segment, where the challenge has come from Apple's iPhone and the Google Andriod-based devices, Nokia is launching its flagship Lumia range mid-December. In a country where the Internet revolution is expected to be facilitated through mobile phones instead of computers, the Lumia series is expected to play an important role along side its existing Symbian operating system (OS)-based smartphone range.
Its first two Lumia models — 800 and 710, a product of its tie-up with Microsoft, feature a slick new design, high quality graphics enabled by a 1.4 ghz processor and the new Windows Phone 7.5 OS.
“It will be one of the biggest brand launches in recent times … definitely the biggest launch in smartphone category in India. Every retail outlet where Lumia will be sold will have either a 2D or a 3D experience zone. We will train more than 12,000 people across the stores on how to operate the new OS, we will also go for consumer education,” said Mr Ojha.
roudra.b@thehindu.co.in