14 DAY TRIAL // Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia, the largest handset vendor around the world, unveiled today at its annual Capital Markets Day event, a series of targets and forecasts for the upcoming year 2010. The company announced that it planned on focusing on execution and its core competitive advantages, so as to be able sustain success on the handset market. At the same time, the company also showcased a series of improvements the Symbian user interface is about to receive.
“In 2010, we will drive user experience improvements, and the progress we make will take the Symbian user interface to a new level. As an operating system, Symbian has reach and flexibility like no other platform, and we have measures in place to push smartphones down to new price points globally, while growing margins. I see great opportunity for Nokia to capture new growth in our industry, by creating what we expect to be the world's biggest platform for services on the mobile,” stated Nokia CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.
According to Nokia, the mobile device market is expected to grow by around 10 percent during the next year when compared to 2009, while its mobile phone shipments are forecast to remain at the same level as those registered during the ongoing year. Compared to 2009, the company expects for its mobile device value market share to grow slightly, and also expects for a “lower average selling price (ASP) erosion of its mobile devices in 2010.”
The company also announced the following: - Nokia targets non-IFRS operating expenses in Devices & Services of approximately EUR 5.7 billion in 2010. - Nokia targets bringing Devices & Services non-IFRS research and development expenses below 10% of net sales in 2010. - Nokia targets Devices & Services non-IFRS operating margin of 12% to 14% in 2010. - Nokia continues to target Services net sales of EUR 2 billion or more in 2011. - Nokia continues to target to have 300 million active users for its services by the end of 2011.
When it comes to the Nokia Devices & Services division, the company says that it aims at improving the user experience, at delivering a re-engineered Symbian user interface (one major milestone in the first half of the next year, and another one in the second half), and at launching the first device powered by the Maemo 6 operating system. At the same time, it will also focus on increasing the number of touch and/or QWERTY handsets delivered to the market, expand the Services business, offer better development tools to third parties, “optimize the industry's lowest cost end-to-end business model in Mobile Phones,” and delivering more services to emerging markets.
In regard to Nokia Siemens Netoworks, the company said the following: - Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks expect a flat market in euro terms for the mobile and fixed infrastructure and related services market in 2010, compared to 2009. - Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks target for Nokia Siemens Networks to grow faster than the market in 2010. - Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks continue to target Nokia Siemens Networks to reduce its non-IFRS* annualized operating expenses and production overheads by EUR 500 million by the end of 2011, compared to the end of 2009. - Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks target Nokia Siemens Networks non- IFRS* operating margin of breakeven to 2% in 2010.