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Nokia applies two-pronged strategy to Chinese market

Nokia Corp, the world's largest manufacturer of cellphones by shipments, says it expects to gain more market share in China this year through its focus on both the low-end and high-end segments of the market.

"We had over 30 percent market share in the greater China area at the end of last year, and in Q1 [first quarter] our market share further strengthened on a pretty healthy product mix," said Colin Giles, senior vice president of Nokia's China-area customer and market operations.

"Everything is in a good position for us to continue to strengthen moving forward," Giles said in a recent interview with Dow Jones Newswires.

The executive, however, declined to provide specific market share targets in China.

The Finnish mobile handset maker saw its global handset market share rise to 32.8 percent in the first quarter from 30.9 percent a year earlier, thanks to strong sales in emerging markets such as China and India, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics.

Second-ranked Motorola Inc saw its share rise to 20.1 percent from 16.5 percent, while third-ranked Samsung Electronics Co saw its market share dip to 12.7 percent from 14.1 percent a year earlier.

To further boost its presence, Nokia on Tuesday last week unveiled three new "N-series" mobile phones, which allow users to take photos, read e-mail, listen to music or watch TV on the move. Nokia said it has sold more than 5 million N-series multimedia phones since last year and expects the multimedia market to grow to 100 million units this year and exceed more than 250 million units in 2008.
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