Nokia bets on emerging entry-level markets by adding four new mobile phones and by launching mobile email, as well as internet connections for remote villages

Nokia on Wednesday released four mobile phones and gave an in-depth press conference about its strategy in the entry-level emerging markets, following the speeches by Nokia’s Vice-President for Sub-Saharan Sales Loren Shuster, and by Nokia’s Vice-President for entry-level devices Alex Lambeek, there were three workshops where Nokia demonstrated the need for mobile internet and email in rural areas, as well as interesting remarks by Paul Griffith, Nokia’s Head of entry-level phones design, and to end the day, there was a lecture on the partnership of Nokia Siemens to provide internet connectivity for rural areas through their Village Connection Internet Kiosk project.

During Shuster’s speech, he affirmed that current mobile connections outnumber fixed connections by nearly six to one. He explained that the key to Nokia’s success on the entry-level emerging markets is the wide range of products and services, and constantly evolving needs and wants of all African consumers. While analysing this market, The Sub-Saharan sales Vice-President stated that “Nokia wants a direct touch with retail customer” and to prove this, he announced that there are already more than 500 customer care service points across the market.

Alex Lambeek nominated South Africa as one of the top three largest growing markets of Africa, and stated that Nokia is a major catalyst in the industry.

Heading to technical details, Lambeek affirmed that “Nokia brought innovation with the first flash-light-enabled phone, the Nokia 1100”, besides that, Nokia also brought the first cameraphone under 100€, the Nokia 2630. The Nokia 2300 completed the innovations list, as the phone which brought FM Radio.

The Nokia 1100 sold over 250 million units, while the First Billionth phone sold by Nokia was the 1100, and it was sold in Nigeria, one of the most profitable emerging markets due to its size.

The Entry-level Vice-President listed the focus needed for a entry-level device to be successful:

• Languages – Nokia released 80 different languages.

• Durability – Dust covers were released to protect phone from harsh environments.

• Battery life – In remote locations, electricity is scarce.

• Ease of use – An example of this is the speaking clock.

• Entertainment – FM Radio is an important step to transform phones into multimedia devices.

To conclude his speech, Lambeek noted that the replacements users are gradually increasing against first-time users, and that Nokia will aim more at this market instead of the latter one.

Nokia 5000

This is the most expensive low-end phone at 90€ before subsidies and taxes. The 5000 incorporates a 1.3 megapixel camera. The display is a suitable QVGA with 65k colours that fills up the 2” screen.

FM Radio is included, but the breakthrough here is being able to record FM Radio. MP3 and ACC ringtones are compatible as well, but the question is how to fit everything under 12MB of memory without a memory card slot. To add up, there is Bluetooth, GPRS and EDGE.

Nokia played hard when it came to email, launching their new Mobile Email programme, which you will be able to read about at the end of the article.

The phone’s shape and appearance kept on reminding me of the Nokia 5310 Xpress Music that I reviewed some time ago. The colours available for this phone are cyber green, neon blue, and perfect purple.

An interesting detail in most of these devices is that the speaker is at the back, and in a stylish way the cover raises, so that the sound doesn’t get trapped if the device is put on a surface.

Griffith, Head of entry-level design told the press that in the speaker there is a mesh that prevents dirt, and its colour mathes the aluminium boards at the display’s sides.

Nokia 2680

The 2680 is the first slider for the entry-level phones category. It will only be available in the third quarter of 2008, and it has reduced functionality when compared to the Nokia 5000, therefore its 75€ price tag.

In terms of features, there is a VGA camera, FM radio and recording, and Bluetooth and GRPS connectivity.

The display has a resolution of 128×160, which fits well under this price tag and by being an entry-level phone. A QVGA resolution might have slightly increased the phone’s cost. The question about memory remains, none of the devices’ memory reaches 50MB and none of them possess a memory card slot, therefore the supported MP3 and FM Recording wouldn’t be as enjoyable.

In terms of cosmetics, the 2680 will be available in slate grey, night blue, and orange violet, they all have to be colours which look nice in metallic paint an contrasting to black.

According to Griffith, the phone was designed for good grip in case the hands get sweaty, so you can notice the grooves on the sides.

Again, the speaker is at the back of the phone, and the cover is raised in a stylish way, to enable sound to flow through.

The centre keypad column is matt, while the side keypad columns are in gloss. A contrast explained by Peter Griffith as a way to minimize fingerprints to damage the phone’s appearance.

To add to the little details, the top slider has a metallic effect where the colour fades to black to match the rest of the phone. Stainless steel was also added to the phone’s back of the front panel, for it to shine in case you are in a phone call.

Nokia 7070 Prism

The Prism collection was rather limited, and we didn’t see many of them. Including the 7070 as a number of the Prism family was an important move in order to include stylish phones in the entry-level market.

Many journalists at the function agreed that its external beauty will attract more customers, and not only the ones who cannot afford the more-expensive options, but will become a desired asset among many consumers, and given the 50€ price tag, many will afford to own one.

“For some style-conscious consumers, mobile phones are uniquely personal objects. Unlike electronic items from the conventional wired world of fixed locations, they are kept close to us, and used whenever and wherever necessary”- Nokia Growing Together Press Magazine.

Feature-wise, the 7070 will incorporate MP3, GPRS, Mobile Email, and only 11MB of memory. There will be no Bluetooth or FM Radio.

During the workshops Griffith made it obvious that the phone would clearly stand out from the crowd due to its geometric design.

The designer also told us that the back and front of the phone, when open, flow into one another, as they are designed to become one piece.

Although the keys seem to be complicated due to the awkward shape, Nokia made sure they were easy to use, probably thanks to their size.

Nokia 2600 Classic

The colours chosen for this model seem quite attractive: midnight blue, sunset orange, sandy gold, and sky blue.

The Nokia 2600 Classic is already released and features a VGA camera, MP3 ringtones, Bluetooth, and GPRS and EDGE. Once again, the mobile email is present as well. The display only has a resolution of 128×160 pixels in 65k colours.

The keypad is divided in three columns for better grip. The orange decoration around the central keypad column is translucent, so whenever the keypad backlight lits, the decoration glows.

Nokia 1680 Classic

According to Nokia, the 1680 Classic is the cheapest cameraphone to date. At a reasonable 50€ price tag, it offers a VGA camera and video recording, the newly-released mobile email, MP3 ringtones, GPRS and EDGE. The display is the usual 128×160 in 65k colours.

You can find the 1680 Classic in black, slate grey, wine red, and deep plum colours. They keypad is made out of one membrane only, and there is no vertical splits between keys. The only thing that might truly help to type in the bumps Nokia has included in the ‘5′ key, as well as in all of the other released models.

Final notes

Besides the interview with Nokia’s Vice-President for entry-level devices Alex Lambeek, we also got a short time with Peter Griffith, the Head of Design of entry-level devices, who we asked the following questions:

Glossy surfaces add style, make a phone look shinier. However, they are affected by fingerprints, and obviously, fingerprints damage a phone’s external appearance. What’s your opinion in this?

In the devices launched, same areas have matt surfaces, while others are kept glossy, this minimizes the fingerprints.

Most keypads in released phones didn’t have vertical lines, which makes typing more difficult. What can you do to correct this?

Usability of the keypad is really important and something to develop, and it’s combining the way it looks with the way it feels, that is why there are a lot of these details in it (referring to the bumps on ‘5′ key), and you can feel almost without looking between the keys. The other detail is where we separated the centre column of keys with a different finish (referring to Nokia 2680 slider and Nokia 2600 Classic). These are some of the simple things along they idea that you make the key as large as you can make it.

On the upcoming S60 Touch UI, what do you expect the form factor to be (in terms or keypad)?

Physical keypads are here to stay, they are better, work better and are easier to type, and nothing else brings that feeling when you click on the key and feel the feedback.