Nokia now plans a resurgence with its new models of ‘Asha’ that targets the youth with its mid-level pricing and feature-galore.
The Asha series, which has already been launched, will see two new models, the Asha 305 and 311, being rolled out this year. Along with these, new Nokia 808 PureView, which has a colossal 41-megapixel sensor, will also be launched in this month. Even the Lumia series will see two additions of Lumia 610 and 900.
“The Asha series is targeted at first time smartphone users or the youth who can't afford high-end smartphones,” said Nokia India Director and Head (Smart Devices) Vipul Mehrotra.
The company also announced that Asha 305 and Asha 311, the two new models, would be manufactured at their Chennai factory, set up in 2006.
The Finnish mobile giant has recently been facing stiff competition from Samsung and Apple who have bludgeoned its market share. This move of churning out more smartphones, many believe, is aimed at increasing the company’s market share in this category. “You have to be innovative all the time.
You have to lead the consumer through innovation. We need to set a new benchmark (in the smartphone category),” Nokia Senior Vice-President (India, Middle East & Africa) D Shivakumar said.
Shivakumar said that Lumia phones operating on Windows OS has seen good traction so far, in India and globally, and added that it will see better demand once the setting up of the Windows ecosystem is completed.
“Already, around 2 million Lumia phones were sold in the first quarter of 2012,” said Shivakumar.
Nokia has also begun an initiative to stop mobile app piracy by taking up operator billing for purchase of apps. It has tied up with Airtel and Vodafone to allow customers purchase an app from the Nokia Store and pay the amount with their post-paid operator bill.
“This service has seen great demand as there has been a five-times increase in the number of apps downloaded from the Nokia Store and 60 per cent of our customers have said that they prefer operator billing,” added Mehrotra.