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Nokia to sell camera

Posted on: Thursday, 18 March 2004, 06:00 CST

Nokia Oyj, the world's largest mobile-phone maker, will start selling a one-megapixel camera phone in the second quarter that plays videos and stores photos.

The 7610 model will cost about 500 euros ($613), Nokia said at the Cebit technology fair in Hanover, Germany. Espoo, Finland-based Nokia is introducing new handsets as it seeks to regain market share lost to Siemens AG and Samsung Electronics Co.

"The picture quality is good enough for you to start thinking whether you want to carry" a separate camera, said Juha Putkiranta, head of Nokia's camera-phones business, at a press conference.

Nokia is banking on new features to lure consumers to replace phones more often as new customer growth slows in saturated markets. The company lost market share in the fourth quarter amid pricing competition and newer models from companies such as Germany's Siemens, according to researcher Gartner Inc.

The phones will face competition this year from new models by Siemens, Samsung, Motorola Inc. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd., which announced a phone with a 1.3 megapixel camera this month.

Nokia aims to lift its market share to 40 percent after saying it had 38 percent last year.

Gartner last week said Nokia's market share shrank to 34.7 percent in the fourth quarter from 36.1 percent a year earlier. Siemens lifted its market share to 9.5 percent from 8.2 percent, and Samsung's share rose to 9.9 percent from 9.3 percent.

Nokia has forecast global handset sales volumes will this year grow 10 percent or more from the 471 million units sold last year, with its own handset volumes growing faster than the market. Last year, Nokia sold 179 million handsets.

Nokia also said it'll start selling software that lets users transfer photos, video clips, voice and text from their mobile phones to their personal computers. The software, called Lifeblog, lets users to arrange the material for easy access later.

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