Asian-speaking phones

Asian-speaking phones

SINGAPORE (AFP): Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia Corp. has launched here an advanced cellular phone with Asian-language texts in a bid to grab a bigger share of the booming Chinese and Southeast Asian markets.

Nokia's new high-end 8110 hand phone is designed to give commands and options to users in English, Chinese, Thai, Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia -- along with Spanish, for the Philippines' Hispanicized elite.

"Asia will be the biggest regional cellular market in the world by 1998. China is already among the top five cellular markets in the world," said Juha Reima, managing director of Nokia Mobile Phones (Southeast Asia) Pte. Ltd.

The Asian-language text interfaces should be activated by the end of the year for the 8110 model, aimed at non-English-speaking people in the region, Nokia officials told a news conference.

They said the new model is the first to offer all four Asian languages together in each handphone. These are accessible through a menu, and will be available as well in future models of the same series.