Wednesday, April 5, 2006

NOKIA has significantly raised its outlook for the global mobile phone market, saying it would grow by 15 per cent or more this year, which would mean shipments of about 914 million handsets.

The Finnish market leader’s previous forecast was for growth of 10 per cent or more from about 795 million handsets in 2005. Motorola, the world’s No2 handset maker, does not produce overall forecasts but was thought to be in line with Nokia’s original numbers.

Speaking yesterday at his last annual meeting as Nokia’s chief executive, Jorma Ollila said about 80 per cent of the world’s next 1 billion mobile subscribers would come from emerging market countries.

In Chongqing, China, Nokia yesterday launched three new entry-level phones, aimed at customers in developing countries. First shipments of the N1112, N2310 and N2610 models are expected in the second quarter.

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Source: The Weekend Australian (link opens in a new window)