good news from mobile industry(Nokia):
ALA was recently also bullish on mobile systems:
Nokia Sees Mobile Users Rising Faster Than Expected
(Update3)
By Jonas Dromberg
Espoo, Finland, Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Nokia Oyj, the biggest cellular-phone maker, said it
expects sales to rise by 25 percent to 35 percent a year through 2003 as the number of global
mobile- phone users increases faster than it had previously forecast. Its shares gained as much
as 6.1 percent.
The Finnish company estimated that 1 billion people will have cell phones in the first half of 2002
-- six months ahead of its earlier projection. That outlook also boosted rivals' shares.
Nokia rattled investors in July when it warned third-quarter profit would fall as a delay in new
phones curbed sales growth. Still, profit in that quarter beat estimates by 20 percent as Nokia
took market share from rivals Motorola Inc. and Ericsson AB. Today's outlook indicates that Nokia
will extend its lead, investors and analysts said.
``It succeeded in placing itself in the No. 1 position in a market it helped create and seems to be
sustaining that lead with margins that are larger than anyone else's,'' said Jeremy Podger,
European fund manager at Investec Guinness Flight, which oversees about $20 billion.
Nokia shares gained as much as 3.02 euros to 52.40. The stock has soared 45 percent since Oct.
18, the day before the company posted third-quarter earnings. Ericsson rose 3.8 percent to 124
kronor and Alcatel SA gained 5.6 percent to 63.8 euros. The Bloomberg Europe
Telecommunication Equipment Index advanced as much as 5.3 percent.
Last year, Nokia controlled 27 percent of the global mobile- phone market, according to market
researcher Dataquest Inc. Motorola had 17 percent, followed by Ericsson with 11 percent. Nokia
now says it has almost a third of the market.
WAP Outlook
The Finnish company forecast sales growth for the first half of next year in ``the upper range of 25
percent to 35 percent.'' Sales in this year's first half rose 62 percent, while Ericsson and Motorola
sales rose 34 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
Espoo, Finland-based Nokia said it sees more web-connected mobile phones in 2002 than
personal computers, earlier than its previous outlook of 2003.
For 2001, Nokia estimates Web-enabled handset unit volumes will increase to around 200 million,
with the so-called Wireless Application Protocol phones representing some 180 million of the total.
Before the end of this year, Nokia expects 40 million WAP phones to be sold.
``Next year, Nokia will continue to win market share from competitors,'' said Mika Paloranta, an
analyst at ArosMaizels.
While 72 percent of Nokia's sales come from making phones, the company will continue to boost
its network unit. It expects its target network markets to grow 30 percent per year over the next
three years, reaching a value of 90 billion euros in 2003.
``The opportunities in the future are enormous as we enter an unprecedented time when mobility,
Internet, digitized media and other content can be combined and become available to almost
anyone, anytime and anywhere,'' said Chief Executive Jorma Ollila in a statement issued through
the Helsinki stock exchange.
Nokia aims for a 35 percent market share in so-called Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
market. WCDMA will enable wireless transmission of moving images and faster Web access.
The company also said it aims for cost savings of 1 billion euros annually by 2003 through
savings from e-business. |
