Nokia confident in loyalty to Communicator

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.