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Nokia India on Monday launched its first Android-based smartphone Nokia X priced at ₹8,599 to get a larger pie of the affordable smartphone segment.
The move is a shift of strategy by Nokia to give consumers more options in addition to the Windows platform.
The four-inch dual SIM smartphone has 512MB RAM, 3MP camera and up to 32GB expandable memory.
Other handsets The company said other two handsets from the X series – X+ and XL – will be launched in the next 60 days priced between around ₹10,000 and ₹12,000.
These devices will be positioned in between the low-end Asha series and the high-end Lumia series.
“The X family takes care of the affordable range for providing access to consumers who are looking for Android apps. But, we will make sure that at the same time they have access to signature experiences from Nokia and services from Microsoft,” P Balaji, Managing Director, Nokia India, told reporters here.
Apart from the Nokia services such as the ‘Here maps’ and Nokia MixRadio (free music streaming and downloadable playlists), the Nokia X also has popular Microsoft services, including 7GB free cloud storage using OneDrive and additional 3GB if consumers enable camera back up, Bing and Skype.
Apps & games All the devices of X series will also have pre-loaded third-party apps and games such as BBM, Twitter, Facebook and Plants Vs Zombies.
“None of the series (Asha, X and Lumia) will overlap each other on pricing. Therefore, the entire range of Asha, X and Lumia together will allow us to be a significant player in India going forward in the smartphone segment,” Balaji said.
In India, smartphones with Android operating systems sell the most.
Until now, Nokia did not have any presence in this segment and today’s launch could threaten Indian phone brands which have cornered nearly 30 per cent market share.
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