Nokia decides to invest in cheap smartphone

Luiz Almir Nick, President of Nokia in Brazil, shows with enthusiasm the cell Asha 305. "It's success in Brazil," said to. "Has access to social networks, internet, full touch ' [touchscreen] at a price that most people can buy: ten times of R $ 29.90".
Nick intends to employ all his excitement in more sophisticated products and lowest price for consumers this year. Three new models of Lumia-smartphone with Microsoft's Windows operating system, released at the end of 2011 by Nokia-will be presented in the next two months in Brazil, at a price more affordable than those today, from $ 599 to $ 1,295.
According to George, the new appliances will occupy a "middle price range" between current models and so-called "features"-simpler cell phones, without the full operating system used in smartphones. At Nokia, "features phones" cost up to $ 399.
The Lumia "accessible", already on sale in the Asian market and expected to launch in Europe and the Middle East, is one of Nokia's attempts to reverse the bad times experienced by Finnish multinational worldwide. Yesterday, the company released its fourth-quarter balance sheet, which returned to profit. But in 2012, Nokia increased by more than 150% your prejudice toward 2011, for € 3.8 billion. In the world, net sales declined by 22% last year to £ 30.2 billion. In Latin America, where Brazil is the largest market, sales fell 5 percent in the year, to € 4 billion.
In 2012, Brazil went from third to fifth position in the ranking of the top ten worldwide markets from Nokia. In 2011, the country had in front of just the markets of China and India, which remained in the lead in 2012. Last year, however, Japan and United States came to occupy the third and fourth place, respectively. Nick minimizes the loss of participation. "Brazil has always been between the fifth and the sixth place in the ranking; 2011 was an exception, because the sales of Japan and the United States had fallen enough, "he said.
The company's financial report indicates that North America was the only region where the Nokia grew up in net sales (21%). In the Asia-Pacific region, sales fell 7%.
Nokia is at the top of sales among suppliers "features phones" in Brazil. But this category of simpler devices entered in fall, in General. In 2011 these devices accounted for 87% of all models, index which fell to 74% in accumulated up to September last year, according to the IDC Research Institute. On the other hand, smartphones jumped from 13% to 26% of sales in nine months.
For experts, the Nokia does not follow the rhythm of the Smartphone market with the speed that the category requires. According to it the value, the company has in Brazil less than 10% of market share in smartphones, a market led by Samsung. An industry source said that Nokia followed until today a reverse movement, with big bet on mobile phones more simple, to gain scale, while released only three models of Lumia, his most important line of smartphones. In addition, Nokia has opted for an operating system, Windows Phone, which is not as popular as Google Android.
"If we had chosen the Android, would be just another on the market," said George. Android is the operating system adopted by Samsung, who leads the Smartphone market, and by other major world manufacturers, such as LG and Sony Ericsson.
Nokia is the world's largest partner of Microsoft in the use of Windows Phone. According to George, the Union expanded consistently offering applications for smartphones. "Since we announced the partnership, two years ago, the number of applications available in the Marketplace [Microsoft's app store] rose from 7 thousand to 120 thousand," he said. The most popular of these is the "Holy Bible" for $ 1.99. In Nokia Store, where the most copied is Whatsapp, use of applications, most of which is free, has doubled to 120 million in Brazil.
The application is a way to gain consumer loyalty, said George. For the Chairman of Nokia, offer a unit that is closest to the user's profile involves the provision of a diverse range of applications. George, for example, claimed to be a fan of Cinemark theaters network program. "May I purchase tickets by phone and watch the ' trailers '," he said. But the personal experience of the Executive is not illustrative of the local consumption of systems. "Most [consumption] is in classes C and D, which are mobile purchasing Asha".
To get closer to the consumer, Nokia intends to raise from 32 to 60 the number of stores in the country this year. Far from competing with the traditional retail, Henderson said the objective of the stores is to promote applications, test ideas and prices. Current stores, 18 are located in the Northeast. "The next will be in the South, where already there are queue franchisees to open a selling point," said the Executive.