RIYADH, 6 June 2006 — Nokia, which has a 35 percent share of the global market for mobile phones, is beefing up its presence in the Kingdom and elsewhere in Middle East by opening regional offices, launching new products, and modifying its software to extend its customer base.
“There are two billion mobile phone subscribers in the world. The third billionth subscriber will be in 2008. Of these, 80 percent will come from the new growth market and 20 percent (200 million) will be from the Middle East and Africa,” Tomi Paatsila, vice president, Nokia (Mobile Phones Sales and Market Operations, Middle East & Africa), told Arab News.
Omkumar L. Tolani, account manager of Nokia’s Saudi Arabian branch, was also present.
He said that as part of their strategy to increase global market penetration, Nokia launched last year 43 new models, including some for the Saudi market.
In this context, the Nokia executive cited the success achieved by its Series 60, which “is customizable, with all the applications in Arabic. It has a large screen and is easy to read.” He also disclosed that Nokia products are manufactured in nine countries around the world. However, the nearest factory to Saudi Arabia is in India. The products are distributed locally through six agents.
The latest in the series, Nokia 2610, will make its debut on the Saudi market next month. It is compact in design, appealing to look at, and comes equipped with GPSR, a responsive and efficient routing protocol for mobile and wireless networks. It also facilitates downloading of Java. This means one can run applications called “applets” that are written in the Java programming language. These applets allow the user to play online games, chat with people around the world, calculate mortgage interest, and view images in 3D.
The products have become popular to the point that two upscale brands, the 6610 and 7210 models, are known locally as Al Faisaliah and Al Mamlekha respectively.
In a wide-ranging interview, Tomi referred to the “huge market in the Middle East and Africa” for Nokia products. Hence they were enhancing their presence here all the time. The global leader in mobile communications reinforced its commitment to the Middle East and Africa by opening a new office in Beirut, which will cater to Nokia’s business in the Levant. This is in addition to other branch offices in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
These offices will play a key role in serving Nokia’s rapidly expanding consumer base in the market by giving consumers access to Nokia’s latest mobile telecommunications technologies and to the expertise that supports them.
Asked about the factors fuelling Nokia’s market growth, Tomi said: “We understand the market well. We study purchase motivations and accordingly develop the right package after testing the product. Nokia 8800 is a good example. The device was launched in May last year after putting it through rigorous quality control tests. The final product looks elegant. It picked up the GSM Association Award for the best handset and has already sold over a million units since its launch.”
He said the other accelerators of their growth rate are new subscribers and a sizable segment of the replacement market. “In response to the market demand, we are launching 3G services for our customers in the Gulf.” According to Tomi, the Saudi market is highly sophisticated. It is for this reason the life cycle of a Nokia product varies from six to nine months for subscribers at the top end of their market. They change their product frequently not only to keep abreast of the latest technology but also to keep up with the Joneses.
On the question of the security aspect, he said the company pays great attention to it. “Nokia will continue to invest in security solutions. All handsets remain up to date in terms of the software technology. But Nokia terminals are not designed to work with pirated or fake products. So we advise our customers to buy only from authorized distributors.”
At the same time, the consumer should accept his share of responsibility in sending and receiving files only from known sources. “If you don’t know the source, don’t receive it.”
