n the first of a new series on IBNLive - Five Questions - we posted five pertinent questions to the struggling Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia. Viral Oza, director - marketing, Nokia India answered on the company's behalf. Here are Nokia's answers to IBNLive's Five Questions:
Q1. When can Indian consumers expect the Nokia Asha series in the market?
While Nokia cannot share specific details with respect to the date of the launch of these handsets, the first two devices, Nokia Asha 300 and Asha 200 should be available in India in the first half of 2012.
Q2. When can we expect the Windows 8 powered tablet from Nokia? What are your plans of launching the same in the Indian market?
We have not announced any specific plans related to tablets.
Q3. As Nokia is betting its future on Windows Phone, but the OS is not exclusive to Nokia. How will Nokia differentiate its Windows Phone offerings from the competition, apart from the leverage that the Nokia brand name has in countries such as India?
We believe that the Nokia Lumia devices deliver the best consumer experience based on Nokia Windows phone of any of our rivals, including differentiation in design, familiar Nokia elements like imaging capabilities and some new signature experiences. The initial feedback during market testing has been very key positive with 79% of the consumers preferring the Nokia Lumia Windows Phone experience over other competitive offerings. We have also got a good response from other ecosystem partners including operators, retail and developers. The Nokia Lumia devices have been launched with 1000 local applications across 5000 top retail top retail outlets selling that sport a stunning new identity.
While we will have some differentiated experiences in future Windows Phone iterations as per our agreement, we will balance this with the need to maintain timely software development cycles and our ambition to jointly contribute to the Windows Phone ecosystem, including contributing Nokia assets for competitors to use.
Q4. With Windows Phone, Nokia is targeting the upper end of the market and phones such as Asha for budget users. What are Nokia's plans for the mid-segment? Is Nokia planning to bring in modestly-priced Windows Phone devices in the near future?
We have a full line portfolio ranging across high-end, mid-segment and for the budget users.
In smartphones, while the recently launched Lumia range based on Windows Phone addresses the top end currently, it is supported by a refreshed Symbian portfolio across price points addressing the upper and mid end market. Over time, we will bring the Windows Phone based smartphones to more price points.
The Asha series, which we believe will blur the lines between smartphones and feature phones will have offerings across the mid and budget segments . Nokia continues its mission to deliver high quality, stylish devices that provide the best access to social networks, the Internet and information, and offer the best overall experience and value proposition for the next billion mobile phone users. These consumers want access to innovations such as easy-to-use dual-SIM, local services and content, and third-party apps, all with a superior user experience for which Nokia mobile phones are known. These devices comprise the new Asha family of Nokia mobile phones.
The purpose of having a full line portfolio across segments is to appeal to different price points, audiences and geographical and cultural aspirations and we will continue that philosophy as we roll out more products in future. This becomes even more relevant while catering to the Indian market and its wide array of consumer types, from the first time user to those who have entered the replacement market.
Q5. With Windows coming in, is there no future for Symbian?
While Windows Phone will be Nokia's primary smartphone platform, Symbian is still the leading platform across many markets in the world such as China, India, Russia and Turkey, and we continue to innovate on the platform. We have already announced our decision to support the platform and the Symbian base till 2016.
Therefore, we continue to bring improvements in the user experience of Nokia's smartphones based on the Symbian software. In the last quarter itself we have carried out the following initiatives in the smartphone category:
- Nokia made available for download Symbian Anna, a major software update which enhances the user experience of the first generation of Symbian^3 devices - Nokia N8, Nokia C7, Nokia C6-01 and Nokia E7 - bringing owners of these devices a new user interface, virtual QWERTY keypad in portrait mode, split-screen messaging, enhanced Nokia Maps, better web browsing and stronger security.
- Nokia also launched and started shipments of the Nokia 500, an affordable smartphone with a 1GHz processor and powered by Symbian Anna.
- Additionally, Nokia launched three new smartphones powered by Nokia Belle, a major software update following on from Anna that brings further enhancements to the user experience. The Nokia 700, Nokia 701 and Nokia 603 extend the range of available designs, features and functionality in the Nokia Symbian smartphone range. They offer single-tap NFC technology sharing and pairing, the most personal user interface on a Nokia device to date and a more powerful mobile web browsing experience. Shipments of the Nokia 700 and Nokia 701 started before the end of the third quarter. Nokia plans to make Belle available also for users of the Nokia N8, Nokia C7, Nokia C6-01, Nokia E6, Nokia E7 and Nokia X7.
- Nokia announced forthcoming free updates to its Nokia Belle operating system called Microsoft Apps, a suite of Microsoft productivity applications. Requiring no additional infrastructure, these applications help add immediate business advantage to the first Nokia Belle devices as well as delivering additional value to existing Nokia business customers who upgrade to Nokia Belle.
We will continue to bring further updates to the OS to improve the consumer experience. In addition, we will continue to strengthen our portfolio of smartphone devices with new products based on Symbian to keep our portfolio as fresh and competitive as possible until devices based on Windows Phone are available.