Nokia confident in loyalty to Communicator
Finnish cellphone giant Nokia Pte Ltd has been leading the national market for years. The Jakarta Post's reporter Dewi Santoso recently talked with the firm's general manager for Indonesia Hasan Aula on the firm's business plan. Following are the excerpts of the interview.
Question (Q): How were Nokia's sales last year? Answer (A): Last year's sales were very good. I cannot give you the figures in terms of value or volume as they are confidential. All I can say is that we achieved the sales target.
Q: How many products did Nokia launch last year? A: We launched 25 products last year, including five CDMA (code division multiple access) and 20 GSM (global system for mobile communication) products. Of the CDMA products, the most popular types are the dual-band Nokia 3585 and the color-display Nokia 3586. Both are popular due to their user-friendly features and at affordable prices of around Rp 1.7 million (US$200). Of the GSM products, the camera-equipped Nokia 6600 is the most popular of all, thanks to its sophisticated technology and its elegant design, while the image-enabled Nokia 3650 is also on high demand due to its capability of displaying sharp images.
Q: There are a lot of camera-equipped phones coming out now. Will Nokia focus on this type of product? A: No. We shall introduce more camera-equipped cellphones in the future, but we won't abandon low-end users and will still provide mobile phones with no cameras.
Q: How many products will Nokia launch this year? A: We'll launch nine products. In January, we launched Nokia 6850, which is similar to Nokia 6800, except that the new one has a camera. Next month, we'll launch two CDMA products, Nokia 6585 and Nokia 6225. The latter is equipped with a camera. For youths who love games, we'll launch Nokia N-gage. For multimedia lovers, we have touch-screen-equipped Nokia 7700, which will come out in July. Hi-tech lovers buy 3-G and CDMA-supported Nokia 7600, while for those who love style, we'll launch Nokia 7200, the first clamshell product of Nokia in Indonesia. Also, there'll be Nokia 6230, which is as sophisticated as Nokia 6600. And in October, the market will see the more sophisticated Nokia Communicator, Nokia 9500, equipped with a camera.
We may have more products to come out, but we don't have the exact figures, yet.
Q: You just mentioned that Nokia would launch its first clamshell. Why did Nokia launch a clamshell mobile phone? A: We decided to launch a clamshell because we see there's a demand of it.
Q: Are you going to shift focus from monoblock to clamshell? A: No. We'll keep our focus on monoblock.
Q: One of the market trends now is cellphone combined with personal digital assistant (PDA). SonyEriccson has launched the type of product here, which is selling well. Will Nokia launch the same product? A: Nokia doesn't see the need to launch such products as Nokia offers more flexibility and features from its communicators. For sure, we're going to launch user-friendly phones, and they don't necessarily have to be highly sophisticated ones. For the time being, Nokia will not be launching a PDA-equipped mobile phones as Nokia has its Communicator, which provides better functionality and more flexibility.
Q: You seem confident with your Communicator. Aren't you afraid that PDA-equipped cellphones will gnaw at Communicator's market? A: No, because Communicator users are very loyal and reluctant to shift to another type as they have become comfortable with it.
Q: What is your sales target for this year? A: Again, I cannot tell you the exact figure, but if you look at the penetration of cellular usage in Indonesia, only 8 percent of the total (220 million) population. It's a small figure as compared to Malaysia or the Philippines, where around 15 percent to 20 percent of the population use cellular phones. This means that we see a potential increase of almost twice than before in the market.