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Nokia plans a big India comeback with launches, e-comm push

Company aims to be among the top three players in the next few years

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Nokia, once the first choice for mobile phones in India, is planning a grand comeback this fiscal with some major launches beginning this month to recapture some of its lost glory.

This week, it would be launching its priciest phone, Nokia8 Sirocco. Later on, it will relaunch feature phone 8110, the iconic 'Banana phone' to take on Jio phone with a 4G variant.

“While year 2017 was all about making our presence felt, 2018 would be the time to scale up. Nokia was a household brand in India and we want to bring Nokia into the smartphone space with an aim to be among the top three players in the next few years. We have a long-term plan for India and are building it slowly and steadily,” country head of HMD Global, Ajey Mehta, told DNA Money.

Finnish company HMD Global Oy in 2016 acquired the branding rights to Nokia phones from Microsoft for 10 years while manufacturing rights were given to Foxconn.

Nokia currently sells smartphones ranging from the entry-level model Nokia 1 priced at Rs 5,499 to Nokia 8 available at Rs 29,000.

Likely to be launched this week are Nokia 8 Sirocco and Nokia 7 plus though Mehta did not divulge the details.

Next in line would be the new version of its 4G feature phone 8110 to bundled with a telecom service provider and would be positioned as a direct rival to the JioPhone.

The original 8110 slider curved model had achieved cult following due to its form, and the updated version would be pushed hard.

“We would continue to invest in the feature phone business as it continues to be a big part of us,” Mehta said prior to the announcement of Nokia becoming principal sponsor for Kolkata Knight Riders Indian Premier League cricket team for the upcoming seasons.

Nokia has also recently launched the 4G version of its another iconic model, 3310, in China.

There are no immediate plans to bring it anytime soon to India where Nokia continues to sell the basic dual-sim version of that popular easy-to-use feature phone.

The existing as well as upcoming models feature in Nokia.com, the India specific e-commerce site, which is currently being rolled out.

“We are also going live with our India e-commerce site as we speak. It’s something we are serious about and the e-commerce initiative would be an integral part of our marketing strategy,” he said.

Nokia, a year after it re-entered the Indian market, has presence in 110,000 stores and over than 300 care centres across the country, numbers which would be scaled up during the year, he said.

CATCHING UP

  • This week, it would be launching its priciest phone, Nokia8 Sirocco. It will also relaunch feature phone 8110, the iconic 'Banana phone' to take on Jio phone with a 4G variant
     
  • The existing and upcoming models feature in Nokia.com, the India specific e-commerce site, which is currently being rolled out
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