HMD Global launched the new budget Nokia 2 smartphone at a Rapid Metro station in suburban Gurgaon, underlining its intention to tackle the masses and millennials and what is one of its largest markets. Despite the global launch of the Euro 99 smartphone out of India, the Finnish startup did not offer a India price, which can be expected closer to the actual launch date in November. But one thing was clear: Nokia clearly saw an opportunity in offering a phone for the youth in India. Acting CEO Florian Seiche told the crowd at the Sector 55-56 rapid metro station that the while Nokia, in its new avatar, is now available in over 80 markets, India was clearly among the top three and hard to ignore. Especially hard to ignore was its youth demographic, which will have a European smartphone with the sensibilities and strengths that this would offer. Speaking to Indianexpress.com, Chief Product Officer Juho Sarvikas reiterated this and said 80 per cent of those visiting the Nokia website in India were millennials and the idea was to clearly target them. “If you look at who we actually talk to when we designed this proposition, it was the younger user. They are leading the behaviour,” Sarvikas said, this also meant bringing Nokia to a target audience who has never used these phones before. He says that while a lot of these millennials would have never used a phone from the company, their research has shown that Nokia as a brand is very strong with this segment. But the company knows that tapping into its core audience is also an opportunity. “We know a lot of people associate the so-called legend of Nokia with long battery life and that is one of the things we are bringing back with the Nokia 2,” Sarvikas added. Nokia is promising two days of battery life with the phone which touts a 4100mAh battery life. “While we will have that segment of core Nokia users coming back, while also offering something for the feature phone users to upgrade to,” he added. Nokia 2 first impressions Sarvikas said the new phones too continue to the material-led design and seamless transitions like the old phones. “While the mastery of material was the starting point for us, there is also the quality of the finish,” he said. He said the company was mindful of the kind of Indian users who struggle with battery life and look at the phone as the only screen they carry for many hours. “That is why we chose LTPS (Low-temperature polycrystalline silicon) display technology to offer up to five hours of screen life by drawing 15 per cent less battery than other screens,” he said, adding that even the radio and other features have been purpose built to help achieve the two-day battery life.
