Nokia Oyj, the world's biggest mobile-phone maker, introduced seven new handset models to help maintain revenue growth and take market share from competitors including Motorola Inc.
Nokia introduced four phones that slide open, including the 6280 for so-called third-generation (3G) networks and the 6265 based on CDMA, or code division multiple access, technology, the Finnish company said at an event in Helsinki yesterday. The company also introduced two folding designs. All seven models will start selling in the second half of this year.
The company expects to gain ground this quarter after its market share slipped to 32 percent in the first quarter from 34 percent in the previous three months, chief financial officer Rick Simonson said on April 21. It's adding features such as higher-resolution cameras to challenge products such as Motorola's all-metal Razr.
"Whether it offers mobile music, mobile photography or 3G services, a handset must be easy to use in order to bring tangible benefits to consumers," Kai Oeistaemoe, senior vice president at Nokia's Mobile Phones unit, said in a statement distributed through Hugin.
Nokia also said yesterday it will use open-source software for a new mobile Internet browser on its 60-series phones. The browser will use the same components as Apple Computer Inc, the maker of the iPod music players, uses in its Safari browser.
The company yesterday reiterated a forecast that growth in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East will boost the total number of subscribers in the world to 3 billion by 2010.
Nokia, whose revenue fell in 2002, 2003 and last year, on April 21 predicted second-quarter sales will rise as much as 27 percent to as high as 8.2 billion euros (US$9.9 billion), helped by market share gains and stronger demand. Chief executive Jorma Ollila on June 8 said global mobile-phone unit sales may grow 15 percent or more this year, helped by demand in China and India.
Nokia, which has a long-term target of 40 percent market share, has said it plans to introduce 40 new models this year. Ten of them will be 3G handsets, with faster data speeds and videoconferencing capabilities.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite