Nokia launches 3 smart phones; hopes to increase market share

During its annual Nokia World event held here this year, Nokia unveiled three new devices -- E7, C7 and  C6 -- all using the latest Symbian software.

The three devices, along with the much-anticipated N8, will form a portfolio of phones running on Nokia's updated operating system.

Claiming that Nokia sells more smartphones than rivals, Nokia Vice-President (Markets) Niklas Savander said, "Nokia sells 260,000 smartphones every day... We plan to sell 50 million of the new smartphones post its launch."

Analysts feel that Nokia is losing out to Apple and Research in Motion's Blackberry in the smartphone segment. Though Nokia claims they are still the leader, it was feeling the heat in the smartphone segment and was trying to revive its portfolio, which is evident from Savender ending his speech by stating, "Nokia is back."

Though the devices will start hitting the markets by the fourth quarter of this year, it is still not clear how long Indian consumers will have to wait to get their hands on the devices.

The annual event this year is taking place at a time when the handset-maker is in the middle of a major management revamp, with the company announcing that its chief executive will step down on September 21 and its smartphone devices head resigning on Monday.

Last week, Nokia announced it was hiring Stephen Elop, a Microsoft executive, to replace Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.

Nokia has been facing a tough competition in India -- where it is the market leader -- from home-grown mobile phone -makers, which are offering feature-rich mobiles at dirt cheap prices.