Nokia is to partner with China Mobile, the world’s biggest mobile
operator, in a sales deal that will give the Finnish company an
opportunity to win back Chinese market share from Apple’s iPhone.
China
Mobile, which has more than 700 million subscribers but no contract to
sell iPhones, will start selling a version of Nokia’s flagship Lumia 920
smartphone in the world’s largest mobile market.
Nokia shares were up 8.7 per cent at 2.75 euros on the Helsinki bourse.
“They will have an advantage that their main competitor doesn’t have,” said analyst Eric Beaudet from Natixis Securities.
The phone will be available for order in Chinese market by the end of the year at a retail price of 4599 yuan ($740).
Sales
of Nokia’s new Lumia 920 and 820 models – which operate on Microsoft’s
Windows Phone 8 software – are seen as crucial for the Finnish company
as it tries to regain global market share from Samsung and Apple.
“It
is not a surprise, but it still means a giant opportunity for Nokia,
maybe one of the best opportunities for its smartphones right now. This
market has a lot of piled-up demand for high-end smartphones,” Nordea
Markets analyst Sami Sarkamies said.
Nokia’s stock is still down
28 per cent this year, although it has edged higher in recent weeks on
hopes of promising Lumia sales.
“People around the world are
responding positively to the new Lumia devices, and we are confident
that the enthusiasm will extend to China,” president and chief executive
Stephen Elop said in a statement.
Also on Wednesday, Nokia
unveiled the Lumia 620, its cheapest Windows 8 smartphone. It will be
priced at $249 and go on sale in January, at first in Asia. Analysts saw
the launch as another reason for the upbeat share reaction.
“It seems they are able to lower Windows Phone prices quite quickly, quicker than most people anticipated,” said Beaudet.
Nokia’s
share of the global smartphone market has plunged to less than 10
percent from 50 per cent during its heyday before the iPhone arrived in
2007. Today, Nokia relies on Windows after dumping its own software
platforms last year.
Nokia has faced fierce smartphone competition
in China from local rivals after it started selling its earlier Lumia
series there in the first half of the year.
My son called and talked to me about this and how Nokia and Microsoft did a coup on Apple regarding smartphones in China. This is the main reason Apple stocks went down 8 to 10% the last month or so. He was saying that there weren't any smartphones in China yet, however, it seems odd if this is true, unless the only ones were foreigners with them with plans outside of China.
He was also saying that Windows 8 tiles would be helpful to Chinese whose writing characters are pictograms also. So, possibly the design of Windows 8 was with the Chinese in mind to begin with. Since this is the biggest single potential market for software and hardware on earth this might make sense for Microsoft to design a multi-cultural design for the biggest long term impact globally in regard to designing Windows 8. The other interesting point that he made was that the Chinese likely would design many many Apps for Windows 8 since there aren't that many yet worldwide. So, Apps made in China for China but also worldwide might be a billion dollar market like they are for lucky APP companies around the world who designed APPS for Iphone and Ipad within the next 5 years or so.
NDTV
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