Nokia Corp. announced five new GSM phones-the company insists the devices are “multimedia computers”-for the United States, but did not announce any accompanying carrier deals.
Three of the devices-the N70, N73 and N91-are optimized for music. The devices include enhanced memory with 1 GB, 2 GB and 8 GB of storage, respectively. The company suggested the N91’s 8 GB memory will hold about 6,000 songs in a compressed format, or about 2,000 songs in a less-compressed format.
The new devices have dedicated music keys to bypass drop-down menus and new software to synchronize the devices with PCs to manage the user’s music.
The bigger question, of course, is what these devices reflect about Nokia’s strategy in the United States and elsewhere. Analyst Ben Wood of Collins Consulting said that Nokia’s multimedia division seeks a larger role in content and services, a thesis he said was also reflected in Nokia’s recent purchases of Loudeye regarding music and gate5 for GPS-enabled phone services.
Nokia’s foray into content and services actually began five years ago, Wood said. With network operators seeing limited success in selling value-added services beyond ringtones and text messaging, and Web players such as Google and Yahoo! and content contenders such as Apple Inc.’s i-Tunes distribution platform, Nokia sees opportunity and urgency, according to the analyst. This approach may be particularly effective in Nokia’s key markets such as India, where operators welcome out-sourced content platforms with a revenue-share approach.
Nokia said the N70 and N73 will be available next month, presumably from Nokia’s flagship retail stores and retail partners, while the N91 is expected by year’s end. The N70 at retail is expected to cost about $445, the N73 $570 and the N91 $700. The company said it plans to sell about 80 million music-optimized phones this year, or roughly under one-quarter of its total shipment volume.
The fourth device, the N75, is intended to answer demand for thin phones and will launch in the United States in the fourth quarter. The N75 is about three-quarters of an inch thick, which compares favorably with phones from rivals Motorola Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. that measure about one-half inch thick.
News of Nokia’s plans for the U.S. market has been eagerly awaited, as it trails its rivals in market share. Nokia lost the market-leading position in GSM phones to a resurging Motorola and its thin Razr phone models in 2004-2005. Analysts have faulted Nokia for being slow to adopt the thin trend and for an ineffective strategy for CDMA-based phones, which represent more than half the phones sold in the nation.
The fifth device announced today, the N95, is intended to pack the functionality of a host of other consumer electronics devices into one “multimedia computer.” “It’s what computers have become,” the Finnish handset maker gushed in a press release. The face of the device slides up to reveal the phone keypad, or down to reveal media control keys.
The N95 includes various music functions, a 5-megapixel camera, video, push e-mail, GPS capabilities, maps and directional information from Tele Atlas and is designed to run on HSDPA networks, though it is compatible with EDGE and W-CDMA networks. Currently, only Cingular Wireless L.L.C. is building out an HSDPA network, which provides faster download speeds than W-CDMA networks. The N95 runs on Nokia’s S60 platform, which is based on the Symbian operating system. The company said the phone would ship early next year and retail for about $700.
All these features obviously have their cost, according to Wood, who praised the N95’s slider design. The retail price is steep for the U.S., the development of such complex devices adds to their lead time and battery consumption. In comparison to other handset vendors, these devices and the implied direction toward delivering content and services gives Nokia “a leadership position,” Wood said. But Nokia will have to brand its multimedia efforts in a consumer-friendly fashion akin to how Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications has with its Walkman and Cybershot brands. Finally, Wood concluded, Nokia must still address the design challenge of the day: thin phones are still in high demand.
