ESPOO, Finland-Nokia Corp. released its new 2652 phone for emerging markets, which the company said will sell for around $122. The new phone comes on the heels of news that Nokia has sold more than 1 billion mobile phones worldwide since the company began selling the gadgets in 1982.
“We are working with operators to offer affordable phones and solutions that reduce the total cost of ownership of the handset and mobile services,” said Kai Oistamo, head of Nokia’s phone business. “Nokia was the first vendor to focus on an extensive range of products and network solutions in fast-growing markets, and we remain committed to introducing affordable, attractive phones with well-considered features and innovative network solutions to meet the communication needs of consumers in these markets.”
Nokia’s 2652 will be available in Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Greater China region starting next month.
However, Nokia’s dominance in the phone market is not without its hiccups. The company said it will delay the European release of its N91 music phone until the first quarter of next year. The company originally had planned to release the device in Europe during the critical fourth-quarter shopping season.
Nokia said the reason for the delay was to include Microsoft Corp.’s digital rights management software in the phone.
“Initially, the N91 would not have had Windows Media DRM support, but we were able to get that support built in to the product at a point where we could offer it from the beginning with only a slight delay in the initial shipments,” said Nokia spokesman Keith Nowak. “The tradeoff of a few weeks vs. a better customer experience was not really that difficult a one to make.”
Nokia’s N91 features an internal hard drive to store up to 4 gigabytes of music. The device initially was scheduled to launch in the Americas in the first quarter and still is.
In other phone news, NEC Corp. unveiled a new super-slim, clamshell-style phone. The phone will sell in Hong Kong, Italy, Russia, Australia, China and elsewhere. The phone is the latest in a series of slim devices aimed at copying the success of Motorola Inc.’s popular Razr device.
Finally, MetroPCS said it will sell Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s n330 for $170. The phone features a pop-up screen and Immersion Corp.’s VibeTonz technology.
