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Nokia Plans 20 High-Resolution Camera Phones in 2005 (Update2)
Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Nokia Oyj, the world's largest mobile- phone maker, plans to introduce more than 20 handsets featuring cameras with at least 1 megapixel resolution next year in a bid to regain lost market share.

Sales of camera phones will exceed 200 million units this year, Anssi Vanjoki, who runs the Nokia unit that makes camera and game phones, said at an event in Monaco. Nokia previously forecast camera phone sales would reach 200 million units.

Nokia today unveiled the 3220 model, with a 1 megapixel camera for higher resolution pictures, the 6020 camera phone for business users and the 7710, a so-called smartphone, the company said in a statement distributed at the conference.

The Espoo, Finland-based company is introducing phones with new features to recover market share, which fell to a five-year low earlier this year. Nokia last month said its profit may drop for a second straight quarter as prices drop and the company increases marketing spending.

Samsung Electronics Co., Motorola Inc. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd. took market share by starting to sell foldable camera phones earlier than Nokia. Nokia Chief Executive Jorma Ollila earlier this year vowed to take ``firm actions'' to recover market share, including price cuts and shipping more phones with the foldable, so-called clamshell design.

New Phones

The company will start shipping the 3230 and 6020 models in the first quarter. The 3230 will cost about 350 euros ($445) and the 6020 about 200 euros. The 7710, which will cost 450 euros to 500 euros goes on sale in Asia, including China, this quarter and in Europe and Africa in the first quarter, Vanjoki said.

Operators will be able to adapt the 6020 model to their specific needs, Vanjoki said. The new model, based on Nokia's 60- series phones of which 15 million units have been sold, ``will sell a lot,'' he said.

Nokia is ``well-equipped for Christmas,'' even with the new models going on sale next year, Vanjoki said.

The company still has a long-term target of winning 40 percent of the global market for mobile phones, he said.

Nokia's market share fell to 30.6 percent in the third quarter from 33.8 percent a year earlier, Boston-based researcher Strategy Analytics said last week. Still, its share rose from 28.8 percent in the second quarter. Motorola had 13.9 percent and Samsung had 13.5 percent in the third quarter.

After Nokia's market share started sliding early this year, Ollila blamed ``gaps'' in the company's product portfolio, such as missing clamshell models. In March, Nokia started selling its first clamshell phone, years after some competitors.

Smartphone Demand

Sales of smartphones are expected to make up a quarter of total mobile-phone unit sales in 2008, Antti Vasara, Nokia's vice president of technology and sales, said in a speech at the event in Monaco.

Nokia is betting new features will help the company to increase its average phone prices. Nokia's average selling price fell to 105 euros in the third quarter from 110 euros in the previous three months and 124 euros a year earlier, FIM Securities analyst Jussi Hyoety wrote in an Oct. 14 note.

The company last month said fourth-quarter sales would be 8.4 billion euros to 8.6 billion euros, down from 8.79 billion euros a year ago.

Nokia last month said it expects 2004 global unit sales by all manufacturers will reach 630 million phones. Strategy Analytics last week said unit growth may rise 30 percent to 670 million phones in 2004 as operators add subscribers in countries such as India, and as U.S. and European consumers change to more advanced models. Growth will slow to 8 percent next year, the researcher said.

Shares of Nokia rose as much as 11 cents, or 0.9 percent, to 12.34 euros as of 5:22 p.m. in Helsinki. They had lost 11 percent this year before today.



To contact the reporter on this story:
Ville Heiskanen in Helsinki [e-mail]

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Lars Klemming at [e-mail] or
Zimri Smith at [e-mail]
Last Updated: November 2, 2004 10:24 EST
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