Nokia confident of sustained business in RP

Even if there is a projected decline of mobile phone shipment this year, cellular phone manufacturer Nokia is still bullish of its sustained business in the Philippines, banking on the active “replacement market.”

In a press conference, Nikka Abes, corporate communications manager for Nokia Philippines, said that the company may anticipate a slowdown of mobile phone take up, but not as much as the smaller mobile phone makers.

“Because we are the leading manufacturer and market leader we may be less affected,” Abes said adding that Nokia will be introducing more entry-level units in the Philippines this year because of the financial difficulties.

Entry level mobile phone units with sophisticated features, like music, email, among others will be usually pegged from P7 thousand below. Although, she mentioned that the interest of the discriminating market in buying high-end phones will be sustained.

Abes said Filipinos are now actively buying cellular units as replacement (for their old gadget) or as a   secondary phone.

This will save Nokia from experiencing a discouraging sales slump of mobile units in the Philippine market at least this year, she said.

In a report, released by Information Communication Technology (ICT) research firm IDC, it projected a bleak picture of the Philippine mobile phone market, declaring that the trying times in 2008 will continue this year.

The latest IDC report indicated that mobile phone unit shipments in the country are projected decrease by 0.3 percent from 2007 to 2008, with the trend continuing in 2009 as unit shipments are estimated to plunge further by 5.3 percent.

A number of factors contributed to the decline of mobile unit shipments decline in the country, IDC said, noting higher inflation and consumer prices have led the way for lesser purchasing capacity for consumers.

According to Abes, Nokia will be aggressively pushing introduction of entry level (or affordable) mobile phone units in the Philippine market that will offer necessary features such as Internet capability and more sophisticated music features, among others.

Also, she mentioned that Nokia is currently talking with mobile network providers to possibly provide more affordable data charges, to encourage usage of data transfer and mobile Internet among huge mainstream subscribers.

Usually, Nokia launches at least 40 new mobile phone models in a year, but with the projected weak market this year, Abes said the Nokia Philippines management team may adjust with the times.

“It’s with the Nokia Philippines management team to decide which phone will be introduced in the market this year,” she said.

The Finland-based mobile phone maker is also optimistic of the active interest from the “play-list generation” or the youth market (aged 18 years old to over 30 years old) to stimulate sales, as the company will be releasing more music-savvy phones.

In fact, Nokia recently introduced its newest music phone, the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music which has 8 gigabytes memory that is capable of storing 6,000 tracks. — Ehda M. Dagooc