NEW YORK-Following AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s plans for a nationwide EDGE network, Nokia Corp. announced its first EDGE-capable smart phone for the Americas market.
Nokia plans to sell its 6620 phone, which features the Symbian operating system, in the United States by the second quarter of this year. Nokia is promoting the phone for both consumers and business users. The company said the phone can support Internet surfing with an Opera browser and streaming video through a RealNetworks Inc. video player, as well as provide support for behind-the-firewall virtual private network clients and word processing, expense reporting, document management and travel-related software packages. The phone includes a built-in digital camera and an MMC memory card slot for a total of 40 MB of memory.
“The Nokia 6620 imaging phone offers the latest in technology for both business and personal use, and in a surprisingly compact and easy-to-use package that weighs less than 4.5 ounces,” said Randy Roberts, director of imaging devices for Nokia. “By delivering a tool that can quickly access content ranging from streaming video and stereo MP3 music to e-mail and corporate intranet files, we are offering users the ability to manage and control how they use the mobility afforded by wireless technology.”
Nokia, a company once mostly focused on the consumer market, recently began pushing into the wireless enterprise market through the creation of its new enterprise business division. Although it may score significant enterprise successes, some see challenges ahead for Nokia.
“Nokia must cast off its phone-centric approach and be willing to step outside its reliance on the Symbian platform to fully engage the corporate customer,” said David Kerr, vice president of the Global Wireless Practice at Strategy Analytics. “In particular, Nokia will require a PDA product in its portfolio for the large portion of enterprise customers for whom the prevailing device hierarchy is notebook computer, PDA and then mobile phone.”
