re: AP and Reuters on the Nokia 6650 release
Nokia 6650 Product page here:
nokia.com
>> Nokia Unveils First Third Generation Handset With Video, Audio And Data Capabilities
The Associated Press
Helsinki, Finland
Sept. 26, 2002
Nokia, the world's largest cell phone maker, on Thursday unveiled its first third generation handset with video, audio, and data capabilities.
The Nokia 6650 is a phone with an integrated camera with video sending and playing features, and is compatible with existing GSM systems as well as future third generation UMTS networks.
Nokia, known for sleek and innovative designs, said the 6650 would allow users to view and edit video and audio clips on the phone, compose personal movies and send them to another phone, or an e-mail address.
Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president of Nokia Mobile Phones, said the new handset would be in operator testing during the first quarter of 2003, and then go on sale. He said the price would be similar to today's street price for the Nokia 7650, depending on operator subsidies.
Earlier in September, Nokia released the 3650, a video phone with similar features but without the 3G support and with a look geared more toward younger consumers.
Vanjoki said Nokia will launch three new color-screen models by the end of the year.
Minutes after the Nokia announcement, rival manufacturer Motorola unveiled new details about its own equivalent handset.
"The features are almost identical however, the Nokia seems smaller, lighter, whereas the Motorola will probably be available before the Nokia," said Jussi Hyoty, an Analyst at FIM Securities. "Still, the market is still very insecure about expectations and it is difficult to assess third generation services in general."
In a joint effort to boost third generation mobile technology, Nokia teamed up with Finnish operator Sonera in promoting the phones. And Finnish television broadcasters MTV3 and YLE both announced they would begin transmitting news and programming as a service to mobile phones equipped with video features.
Amid speculations of delays in third generation technology implementation and interoperability, company executives refused to estimate how much the new models were expected to sell, or how many would be manufactured.
Nokia's share price on the Helsinki Exchange closed up 10 percent, at $14.18.
Harri Koponen, chief executive of Sonera, said he expected a mass market for 3G services to develop in 2004.
Nokia, based in Espoo, has sales in 130 countries with 59,000 employees. It had a net profit last year of $1.9 billion on net sales of $27.6 billion. <<
>> Nokia Unveils Its First 3G Phone
Paul de Bendern
Helsinki
Reuters
September 26, 2002
Nokia (NOK1V.HE) unveiled its first new generation color-screen mobile phone on Thursday, but it will not be on sale for a while and industry pundits criticized the lack of new features.
Model 6650 of the world's largest cellphone maker has a built-in camera, a large color screen and will work on both the current, second generation (2G) of GSM networks as well as the third generation (3G) WCDMA systems.
The 3G mobile networks have been designed for fast and efficient data communications such as a video phone calls, alongside better quality voice communications.
However, the features that Nokia showed at a media presentation in Helsinki on Thursday with local telecoms operator Sonera (SRA1V.HE) were similar to those already available on 2G networks, such as picture messaging and sending small clips of moving images.
Nokia Mobile Phones Executive Vice President Anssi Vanjoki played down expectations for 3G by telling Reuters earlier this week operators did not yet need 3G networks to offer services such as high-quality picture messaging.
The estimated selling price of around 750 euros ($734.6), before subsidies reflected the similarities with Nokia's existing camera phone for 2G networks, the 7650, which retails with a similar price tag.
Battery life of the phone was two hours and 20 minutes of talktime and up to 14 days of standby time, less than normal handsets but more than early 3G phones from rivals in Japan.
Nokia had already told investors that the new model would not cause a revolution in mobile communications and that it would not to be on sale for another six months.
The handset maker and mobile carriers are still ironing out teething problems.
"The main problem is interoperability between networks and terminals and we're working on that now," said Sonera's mobile networks manager Mika Matturi.
Nokia shares closed 10 percent higher at 14.48 euros, sharply outperforming the DJ Stoxx European technology index (Zurich:^SX8P - News) which was five percent higher.
Nordea Securities analyst Jussi Uskola, who rates Nokia a "buy," said the stock was up on general positive sentiment in the mobile phone market and good U.S. macroeconomic data.
"The phone looks good, and the dimension are okay but the problem is the high price."
He and other analysts said the phone had limited talk-time and failed to offer many new features that are not available on current models.
Stumbling Blocks
Another stumbling block slowing down introduction of third generation phones in Europe has been the capability of a handset to switch between existing nationwide 2G networks and new 3G networks which will initially only cover cities.
Sonera Chief Executive Harri Korponen said consumers in Europe, unlike in Japan, would not accept a mobile phone service that would work on only a third generation network.
Nokia said it had sorted out the issue with the new handsets, which were shown working at Thursday's media presentation in a modern art museum in Helsinki.
"I struggle to find any angle to this that is interesting. We won't know until next year how well the handsets work. At this point we can only take Nokia's word for it," said Evli Bank analyst Karri Rinta, who rates Nokia a "buy."
Sonera's Korponen also said operators could not launch 3G networks with just one phone, another reason the carrier was not selling the service to consumers yet.
"We need more phones. One model is not enough to launch on a massive scale," he said.
Evli Bank's Rinta said the general outlook for the mobile phone market looked good, but added the 3G market would not begin to be interesting until 2004.
In Britain and Italy, Hutchison Whampoa (HKSE:0013.HK - News) will be the first European operator to go commercial with its 3G service, dubbed "3," taking delivery of 1,000 handsets on October 2 from suppliers NEC (Tokyo:6701.T - News) and Motorola (NYSE:MOT - News), rising to 100,000 by the end of the year.
In Austria, mobile operator Mobilkom on Wednesday passed the required license threshold of 25 percent of the population covered by 3G, but a lack of phones meant it could not yet sell the service to consumers.
Delays
The rollout of 3G networks has been plagued by delays, with cash-strapped operators choosing to focus on repairing their battered balance sheets instead after spending billions of euros on 3G licenses in 2000.
Operators, like Vodafone (London:VOD.L - News), are also paying more attention to providing mobile phone services on current networks than boosting consumer usage of their phones.
Multimedia messaging services (MMS) that runs on existing networks is touted as one solution; with MMS, consumers can send and receive digital photos, text and sound via their phones. <<
- Eric - |
