Nokia may stop manufacturing black and white phones in the near future.
Nokia will be launching a basic colour phone – Nokia 105 – later this month. Expected to be priced around Rs. 1,200, the Nokia 105 was first showcased at the Mobile World Congress 2013 event held in Barcelona earlier this year.
The phone is aimed at those who are yet to have a mobile connection or those who have a tight budget. Nokia claims the phone comes with a battery back up of 35 days. It features a speaking clock as well.
Following the launch of Nokia 105 it’s being speculated that the Finnish firm may stop manufacturing black and white phones in the near future.
Talking to Hindu Business Line, T. S. Sridhar (Regional General Manager South) of Nokia says: “We are specifically looking at India, Africa and China where there is huge scope in the entry-level market. In India, we are going to introduce the phone in Andhra Pradesh this month followed by other markets. We are planning to phase out the 1280 phone of which we have sold 10 crore pieces.”
Nokia will be soon manufacturing new phones at its Chennai facility for the domestic and global markets.
Sridhar points out a GFK Nielsen study that says India’s sub-Rs 2,000 phone market accounted for 60 per cent of the 1.3 crore phone sales. About 85 percent of sales were of phones priced below Rs 4,000.
A recent CMR report said Nokia still dominates in the feature phones segment and has about 22.5 percent of share in terms of unit shipments in this segment. It also rules overall mobile phone market with 21.8 percent. It’s notable feature phones shipment of a 19.9 percent growth in 2012.
In smartphone segment, Samsung leads the market at 43.1 percent share, whereas Nokia has just 13.3 percent. Check out our coverage on the CMR report here.
Source: Hindu Business Line