Nokia plans to roll out cheaper 3G handset models



Nokia plans to roll out cheaper 3G handset models
Timo Poropudas

28 Feb 2006 at 18:43


Nokia promises to market cheaper handset than this N70. Nokia aims to promote next-generation handsets to local users by introducing more lower-priced models with improved designs later this year, a company official said yesterday, according to Taipei Times.

Nokia’s promise came amid criticism by Taiwanese mobile operators, who have blamed high price tags and bulkiness of 3G handsets, along with limited choices of models, for the lukewarm adoption of 3G services since their debut in the middle of last year.

“Those premiums [on handset prices] will disappear this year,” Loren Shuster, general manager of Nokia’s Taiwan branch, said yesterday during a press luncheon.

In the second half of this year, Nokia plans to offer local consumers several different 3G handsets, including entry-level models that offer basic functions and affordable prices, Shuster said.

The Nokia official said the domestic 3G market would be successful if the number of users rises to account for 15 percent of total mobile subscribers this year.

If plans by Nokia and its peers to roll out cheaper 3G handsets are fulfilled, Chunghwa Telecom Co, the nation’s top phone company, said earlier this year that its 3G subscribers would jump to 1 million by the end of this year from around 250,000 users now.

Handset unit sales are expected to post 4 percent growth to 6.9 million units this year from last year, given a lack of catalysts in the domestic market, which is becoming saturated, according to a forecast by the Taipei-based market researcher Market Intelligence Center, Taipei Times reports.

Sales are expected to grow 4 percent annually as well, to USDF 1.4 billion this year.

Related News

Nokia 3G phone now shipping to NTT DoCoMo
DoCoMo buys into Tower Records
Western Europe mobile phone market to grow 11% in 2005

location based services LBS