Nokia Targets Fashion-Conscious Asians With New Model
<<new model in ``Elicit Green'' and ``Bewildered Red'' >>
--From AOL. LOL!-- Cooters
Singapore, Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Nokia Oyj, the biggest mobile phone maker, is counting on a sales boost from its new model in ``Elicit Green'' and ``Bewildered Red'' and other colors, all designed to attract fashion-conscious users in Asia Pacific.
The Nokia 8250, with an electric blue backlight display, was shown at parties -- with blue sequin-clad models offering blue cocktails -- in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. The phone, which will be available in the first quarter, offers features such as short message service chatting, personal screen savers, picture messaging, and ring tone composing and are aimed at Asian buyers who pine for the latest gadgets.
``Consumers here are very demanding, wanting new handsets and new features all the time,'' said Nigel Litchfield, senior vice president for Nokia Mobile Phones, Asia Pacific. ``Many of our new products are being introduced in Asia first.''
Nokia said this week it expects 1 billion people, or 16 percent of the world population, to have mobile phones in the first half of 2002 -- six months sooner than its previous forecast. Cellular phone purchases are accelerating in Asia, where consumers in cities like Singapore and Hong Kong upgrade their phones every year.
The Asia Pacific region accounts for 24 percent of Nokia's total sales.
Global Surge
With as many as half the world's 700 mobile phone users upgrading their old models, Nokia estimates industry handset sales at about 400 million phones this year.
Handset purchases are accelerating in Asia, where subscribers in cities like Singapore and Hong Kong upgrade their phones every year.
``Nokia is offering consumers a new fashion product,'' said Bengt-Ake Gyllenberg, vice president for sales at Nokia Mobile Phones Asia Pacific.
Last year, Nokia controlled 27 percent of the global mobile phone market, said market researcher Dataquest Inc. Motorola Inc. had 17 percent, followed by Ericsson AB with 11 percent.
Nokia now says it has almost a third of the market.
Dec/08/2000 2:45 ET |
