Nokia Launches $99 Smartphone In India
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In a bid to halt falling sales in emerging markets, Finnish mobile giant Nokia on Thursday unveiled a $99-touchscreen smartphone for the Indian market, which the company claims will “reinvent the affordable smartphone” line.
According to Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop, the Asha 501, which comes with built-in social media applications and Internet access, will target consumers looking to move up from no-frills handsets; and become the bedrock for future affordable smartphone.
In a bid to halt falling sales in emerging markets, Finnish mobile giant Nokia on Thursday unveiled a $99-touchscreen smartphone for the Indian market, which the company claims will “reinvent the affordable smartphone” line.
According to Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop, the Asha 501, which comes with built-in social media applications and Internet access, will target consumers looking to move up from no-frills handsets; and become the bedrock for future affordable smartphone.
Elop added that the Asha 501 will be “relevant to 80 percent of the world, particularly in the emerging markets,” as its low-cost and essential features met the demands for consumers in fast-growing emerging markets.
“The Asha 501 and Asha platform, we believe, will reinvent the affordable smartphone category,” said Elop, as cited by the Wall Street Journal.
“When I think about the Indian market, I think first and foremost about a very large country whose economic wealth is growing, sometime a bit less, sometimes more. Nonetheless, it is a growth economy where the entire society is being effected by mobility… That’s the highest order of consideration,” he added, according to the Economic Times.
[quote]”We are launching it (the Asha 501) here in India because so much of our work is focused on Indian consumers… India is very important. It is the bellwether market that is very leading indicator of some of the trend,” he said. [/quote]Related: “Frugal Innovation” Now Key Indian Economic Strategy
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Among Nokia’s competitors in low-cost smartphones include local and Chinese makers. India’s Micromax Informatics Ltd. for instance sells a Smartphone for as little as $65, while even Samsung has devices that sell for less than $110.
The competition last year pushed Nokia’s market share down in India down to just 13.3 percent from 38.4 percent in 2011. Analysts estimate that lower-cost Internet-enabled smartphone category could be a $40-billion market globally by 2015.
“Global players are looking at price points below $100 where there are serious volumes to be had,” independent New Delhi telecom consultant Kunal Bajaj told AFP.
[quote]”There is a huge opportunity in the sub-$100 range in India and other emerging markets – that price is definitely the sweet spot for users,” added Anshul Gupta, an analyst at global consultancy Gartner.[/quote]Related: Low-Cost Innovation: Waves Of Change From India?
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Nokia plans to begin selling the model in June. The $99 phone has a three-inch screen, a 3.2-megapixel camera and a memory capacity of four gigabytes, which can be expanded to 32 gigabytes. Nokia also says that the phone supports 17 hours of talk time and 48 days of standby time, which could be a great selling point in a country plagued with frequent power outages.
Take A First Hand Look Of Asha 501:
