Nokia bets big on convergence of digital devices

‘‘Yes, we will make the $30 handset one fine day,’’ said Nokia’s Robert Andersson—head of customer market operations without committing to any deadline.

According to Nokia’s estimates, in four years India will become the second biggest market in terms of handset volumes after China. Last year, 65 million new handsets were sold in India and with nearly three million new phone users added every month, India is one of the fastest growing telecom markets. India has a total of 100 million cell phone customers—making it one of the world’s top four cell phone markets. Nokia is not the only one following this strategy. Its competitors Motorola, LG and Sony Ericsson are also focusing on the Indian consumer.

Though Nokia did not give any figures on its market shares, a survey by Voice and Data magazine has claimed 72.5 per cent market share for Nokia in the GSM—giving it a revenue of over Rs 7,892 crore and over 62 per cent growth over previous year. Hence the focus on India is growing within the telecom multinational.

Increasing income levels and aspirational levels coupled with convergence of all digital devices and internet access wireless phones will continue to drive growth in the future. ‘‘In few months, a customer need not to carry multiple devices like a digital camera, a gaming box, a radio or even a laptop. A cellphone will do,’’ said Nokia’s head of multi-media division, Jose Luis Martinez.

‘‘Possibilities of the usage of a mobile phone through internet is endless. Whatever you can think of doing now on internet through a computer, you can now do it on a cellphone,’’ said he. ‘‘The technology is already here,’’ he said.

The new consumers are now looking for phones, which has feature to play music such as MP3, FM or gaming. In 2004, Nokia sold 10 million music enabled handsets which increased to 47 million by 2005. This year sales of music enabled handsets will double, the company predicted.

By 2010, around 900 million phones with music feature will be expected to be sold globally. ‘‘In a year or two, mobile phones with e-mail and access to internet features would become more prominent,’’ he predicted.

Camera-phones and handsets with online gaming will drive growth among the younger consumers.