NEW DELHI--Nokia Corp. (NOK), struggling to regain ground in the
competitive smartphone market, unveiled a $99 touch-screen
smartphone for the Indian and other emerging markets to help drive
sales and boost its falling market share.
At a product launch event in New Delhi Thursday, Nokia said its
Asha 501 will run on the new Asha platform.
The Finnish handset maker said the smartphone will run on a 2G
network initially and it plans to expand the device for faster
third-generation services.
Chief Executive Stephen Elop said the smartphone was built on
the design inspired by the company's higher-end Lumia smartphone
and is targeted at "young, socially inspired" people.
The smartphone has a 3.2 megapixel camera, weighs 98 grams and
has a memory capacity of 4 gigabytes that can be expanded to 32
gigabytes. They also come in different colors including red, green,
yellow and white, the company said in a statement.
Nokia, once the world's largest phone maker, has struggled to
compete in the high-end smartphone market dominated by Apple Inc.
and Samsung. Adding to its woes is stiff competition from Chinese
manufacturers as well as other low-cost Indian phone makers such as
Micromax Informatics Ltd.
Up until last year, the Finnish mobile company's last stronghold
was India but it is seeing increasing threat from South Korean
rival Samsung Electronics Co in the country.
Nokia held a 26% share of the 170 million handsets shipped to
India in 2012, with Samsung following closely behind with 22% of
the market, data from Singapore-based mobile research firm Canalys
shows.
In the fourth quarter, Nokia ranked second globally with 18% of
the market, down from 23.4% a year earlier. Samsung ranked first
with 22.7% and Apple's market share rose to 9.2%.
Despite losing share to Samsung, Nokia's handset sales improved
due to strong demand for its Asha series and Lumia Windows phones,
Gartner said.
The launch of the device could potentially help Nokia regain its
competitive edge against Samsung's low-end smartphones and tap into
India's fast-growing market of consumers trading up from their more
basic mobile phones, analysts said.
Write to Jai Krishna at Jai.Krishna@dowjones.com
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