14 DAY TRIAL // The Finnish mobile-phone maker is at the top of the mobile-phone market, and it seems that it plans on remaining there for a long time. CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told shareholders on Thursday that the company managed to set the basis for future success, and that it could grow even more than before. During 2009, the company managed to sell 432 million devices worldwide, a number that rises above the amount of units sold by its top three competitors alltogether.
“By combining services with devices, Nokia is in a stronger position to grow and create more value for our shareholders,” Kallasvuo stated. “We still have plenty of work to do, but we have built a solid foundation. We believe in our strategy.” Moreover, he stressed on the fact that mobile phone users are increasingly looking to get applications, games and other mobile content on their devices. “It's a global trend that plays to one of Nokia's strengths, our global presence,” he added.
[admark=1]The Finnish handset vendor has a strategy based on the idea that the future will be truly mobile. More and more people are living lives on the go, and they are looking for fast access to experiencing things that are important to them, while also seeking to share these things with others. Nokia currently enjoys a number of 83 million registered users. These people are actively accessing Nokia services, the company states, adding that new handsets come with integrated mobile services.
Here are some statistics Nokia cites to prove its advancements: - The Ovi Store, which opened a year ago this month, is now averaging about 1.7 million downloads a day. There are also localized versions of the store in 18 countries, supporting 30 different languages. - Nokia's free pedestrian and car navigation software has been downloaded more than 10 million times since it was launched in January. The service is now available for more than 70 countries and in more than 45 languages. - Comes With Music, which makes millions of songs available for download at no extra cost for up to a year with the purchase of certain Nokia devices, was recently launched in China and India - two of the world's largest and fastest growing markets.
At the same time, the company said that the Nokia Messaging was enjoying a fast growth, with more than 70 carriers around the world offering the service to their users. Another service, Ovi Mail, has a number of eight million registered subscriptions, marking a growth of one million subscriptions per month. Not to mention the Nokia Life Tools service, which offers agricultural information, educational services and entertainment to people in India and Indonesia, and that has a number of 1.5 million paying subscribers.
“Our approach has been to concentrate on fewer, competitive products that bring the features of Symbian-based smartphones to more and more people around the world. And we are well on our way to doing that,” Kallasvuo said. He noted that the company was optimistic about MeeGo too. “We are working hard to reclaim leadership in high-end smartphones and mobile computers. It is critical that we improve the customer experience with the usability of both our devices and our services.”