Is Nokia back on track with this or just another hype?

Is Nokia now back on track  ?

Nokia believes it is set to return to being a leading player in the smartphone world following a strong reception to its Asha and Lumia family of devices, according to the Finnish handset maker.
Alongside touting the company's return to form, Nokia introduced the Lumia 610 and the camera-centric Nokia 808 PureView smartphones at Mobile World Congress 2012 on Monday. The new Lumia adds a cheaper model to Nokia's Windows Phone OS-based line-up and provides a new entry point to Nokia's ranges.

"One year ago we said we would switch our strategy for smart devices to Windows Phone, we said we would connect one billion people to the internet using our mobile phones, and we would focus on key differentiators," Stephen Elop, chief executive of Nokia, told the MWC audience in Barcelona.

Elop delivered a damning assessment of the Finnish handset maker a year ago in a leaked memo, saying the once-dominant company had fallen "years behind" rivals such as Apple's iPhone, Google-backed Android and low-cost Chinese phones. In February 2011, it also announced a deal with Microsoft that would see it switch its focus to Windows Phone OS and phase out its Symbian OS work, as part of a push to deliver handsets to a tighter time frame.





Nokia's targets
In his MWC keynote speech, Elop re-iterated that not only is Nokia aiming high with its targets, but that it was striving to achieve them as quickly as possible by disseminating handsets into multiple markets, with multiple operators. He noted that the Lumia 710 and Lumia 800, launched late last year, are now available in 31 markets with more than 50 operators.
In January, Nokia announced its re-entry into the US smartphone market with the Lumia 900, which has recently been a challenging country for Nokia to crack. However, Elop said sales in the US have "exceeded expectations" and that European consumers are "responding positively".
"Considering how long it's traditionally taken Nokia to change course, it is amazing to see what they achieved in a year. [There's] more to do of course," Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi said in a post to Twitter.
On Monday, Nokia said it will start shipping the Lumia 900 to non-US markets, including the UK. In Europe, the 900 handset will not come with LTE, but will be a DC-HSPA variant instead. It will cost €480 (£406) and is expected to arrive in the second quarter.
In addition to talking up Nokia's progress, Elop introduced the Lumia 610 and Nokia 808 PureView, which has a huge 41-megapixel camera sensor. Nokia also launched three Symbian-based Asha handsets — the touchscreen Asha 202, 203 and a QWERTY-equipped Asha 302, to connect "the next one billion consumers", said Mary McDowell, head of mobile phones at the handset maker.

Lumia 610
The Lumia 610 is priced low for one of Nokia's smartphones, something that was not possible before due to the minimum specifications Microsoft called for in Windows Phone-based devices. However, Microsoft has eased up on memory and processor specs in its Tango software update, due to roll out in April, meaning that cheaper Windows Phone handsets can now make their way to market.



The Lumia 610 has a 3.7-inch screen, a 5-megapixel camera and 8GB of internal memory. It comes with Nokia Maps, Drive and Transport software services, as well as Nokia Music. It will cost €189 before taxes or subsidies and is due to ship in the second quarter, the company said.

"Nokia Lumia 610 will be a great device for operators to drive users from feature phones to smartphones," Milanesi said. "The price gap with Symbian [is] closing."

808 PureView
The Nokia 808 PureView is aimed squarely at cameraphone fans with its 41-megapixel sensor, Carl Zeiss optics and full HD video capture. It comes with Nokia-developed pixel "over-sampling" technology, which the company said will result in sharper, more detailed images, even in low-light conditions.
The rest of the Nokia 808's spec list is more mid-range: it has a 1.3GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. It runs the Symbian operating system and is due to begin shipping in May, priced at around €450.

www.chargezone.co.uk
The Public Smartphone Charging Media  with Brand Focused Advertising



Follow @chargezone