17 Jun 2002 13:33
Nokia on Monday unveiled a new feature-laden handset, and underscored its ambitions of exceeding its 35 percent global market share in the mobile phone arena.
The new 6610 will play an important role in attracting replacement buyers, but much will depend on software developers as once again, content will be king. Click here to see an image of the 6610.
"In the area of mobile handsets, our long-term global market share target is to reach 40 percent, and this is contributed in no small measure by our performance in the Asia-Pacific, a region which continues to hold immense growth potential for our business," said Matti Alahuhta, Nokia mobile phones president.
The 6610 model, a new Java- and multimedia messaging service (MMS)-enabled mobile phone. The two features will have an important role to play in capturing a larger slice of the pie as more and more markets become saturated, according to Nigel Rundstrom, Nokia's vice president for product management and business development.
"The basic hygiene factors of a phone...the design, battery life, size and weight, are still important, but by the time you're buying your third, fourth or fifth handset in the replacement cycle over many years, you become more educated about what you want," Rundstrom said.
"(With MMS and Java) Nokia is trying to hit the replacement market (customers) who are more interested in whether they can download games or send pictures to their wives," he added.
The colour-screen 6610 is Nokia's third handset to sport both MMS and Java, following the 7650 and 7210. Java technology allows software applications to be downloaded from the Web and installed on phones. MMS, the successor to short messaging service (SMS), enables compatible handsets to exchange pictures, sounds and animations.
Industry observers see the two emerging technologies as key drivers for future wireless growth as mobile operators look for new revenue streams from mobile data services.
However, Rundstrom is quick to dissociate MMS and Java from other mobile data technologies, such as the always-on General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).
"There's been some frustration, both with consumers and operators, that the non-voice market has not taken off very quickly. We've had a certain amount of disappointment with WAP and, to an extent, GPRS," Rundstrom told CNET Asia during the sidelines of the Nokia Connection conference in Singapore.
"WAP and GPRS are important in their own right but they are not the sexy applications that consumers want to use. Consumers are not interested in technology, they are interested in applications. Java and MMS enable us to have some compelling applications now," he added.
The key to this, as Rundstrom believes, will be support from third-party software developers in providing quality content for Java and MMS applications.
"Nokia is a technology company. We can't do everything on our own. That's just impossible. We need the developers to create the wide variety of applications that will excite consumers," he said. "Then we get the 'snowball effect' where we have attractive applications and consumers buy them. Then it encourages more application developers to come into the market. ...that's when we have the momentum going."
The 6610 sports several other features -- it offers a 4,096-colour screen, polyphonic ringtones, integrated FM radio, and triple band technology. Prices were not available but Nokia said the handset is expected to hit Europe in the third quarter.
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