Nokia Unveils $99 Asha 501 Touchscreen Smartphone - Wall Street Journal

(Adds comments from Nokia's Chief Executive Stephen Elop, head of developer experiences Marco Argenti) By R. Jai Krishna NEW DELHI--Nokia Corp. (NOK, NOK1V.HE), struggling to regain ground in the competitive smartphone market, unveiled a $99 touchscreen smartphone for India and other emerging markets to help drive sales and boost its falling market share. The Finnish handset maker also unveiled Thursday its 'Asha' platform that will run on its low-cost Nokia Asha 501 smartphone. Nokia said the platform is designed to allow wider access to application developers. Nokia, once the world's largest phone maker, has struggled to compete in the high-end smartphone market dominated by Apple Inc. (AAPL) and South Korean rival Samsung Electronics Co. (005930.SE) Adding to its woes is stiff competition from Chinese manufacturers as well as other low-cost Indian phone makers such as Micromax Informatics Ltd. In India, Micromax sells a smartphone for as little as $65, while Samsung sells devices below $110. Up until last year, Nokia had a dominant market share in India, but is seeing increasing threat from Samsung. The launch of the low-cost smartphone reflects Nokia's continued push to grow in fast-growing emerging markets despite fierce competition and razor-thin margins. The launch of the Asha platform also signals that Nokia is hedging its bets when it comes to smartphone operating systems. While Apple Inc.'s iOS and Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android dominate the mobile operating system market, Nokia has had little success with its own operating system. Despite its scale and relationship with carriers, it hasn't been able to attract developers to create good native applications. Nokia ended up dropping its Symbian platform in favor of Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Windows in 2011. "With the new Asha platform, developers will be incentivized to deliver those quality apps, previously found only on high-end smartphones, thanks to unprecedented volumes and reach opportunities through one distribution channel and a single platform," Nokia head of developer experiences Marco Argenti said in a statement. Chief Executive Stephen Elop said at the launch event in New Delhi Thursday that smartphones below $100 could be a $40 billion market in the next two years, citing analysts estimates. "The Asha 501 and Asha platform we believe will reinvent the affordable smartphone category," Mr. Elop said. The device, initially built to support data services on 2G, or basic phone networks, will be "relevant to 80% of the world, particularly in the emerging markets," he said. Nokia plans to begin selling the device in June. The $99 price tag excludes taxes and subsidies. The smartphone has a 3-inch screen, a 3.2 megapixel camera, weighs 98 grams and has a memory capacity of 4 gigabytes that can be expanded to 32 gigabytes. Nokia claims the dual SIM phone comes with 17 hours of talk time battery life and is aimed for consumers in emerging markets where electricity is scarce and there is high Internet usage by young people. Analysts said the device could potentially help Nokia regain its competitive edge against Samsung's low-end smartphones and tap into India's fast-growing market of consumers trading up from their more basic mobile phones. Nokia held a 26% share of the 170 million handsets shipped to India in 2012, with Samsung following closely behind with 22% of the market, data from Singapore-based mobile research firm Canalys shows. In the fourth quarter, Nokia ranked second globally with 18% of the overall mobile phone market, down from 23.4% a year earlier. Samsung ranked first with 22.7%, according to research firm Gartner. -Juhana Rossi contributed to this article. Write to Jai Krishna at Jai.Krishna@dowjones.com via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNH1fXz7p5aYpsg6WN7GDY73OClcDQ&url=http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20130509-705051.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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