14 DAY TRIAL // Nokia expressed their belief that the iPhone coming from Apple will stimulate the appetite of cellular users for pricier but more capable phones.
Several smartphones have already been introduced on the market as alternatives for compacting a great amount of services that people might want to have at all times available for use. These new, evolved devices allow users to surf the Web or to take high quality photos. Even more, they can listen to music or watch videos at high performance capabilities.
"The (U.S.) consumer ... hasn't had a lot of choice to go out and purchase these kind of higher-end, feature-rich multimedia devices. If that can help that market grow, I think that gives us an opportunity", said Rick Simonson CFO at Nokia at the Media and Telecoms Summit. Even more, the market for such devices is a special one that only needs to find means of growing in the near future.
Nokia's interest for the appreciation that smartphones receive comes in the context of the company's interest to make the N73 and N95 multimedia handsets as popular as possible. "It (the N95) is already out there, doing many of the things that people are talking about the iPhone doing. The iPhone is interesting. It's very much a validation of what we've been doing, in terms of saying there is a multimedia device out there that people will pay for", further declared Rick Simonson.
The problem with such phones is that most of them come for a price higher than USD400. It is only normal for such evolved technology to come at a high cost, but this still makes them out of reach for many people.
On the other hand, people at Nokia seem to believe that choosing such high-end phones is only a matter of habit and of understanding the benefits they can offer. This is why they expect the iPhone to break the ice and lead to a higher preference for smartphones among cellular users.