- New Nokia Lumia 610, the most affordable Lumia, an ideal introduction to Windows Phone
- Award-winning Nokia Lumia 900 being made available in various markets outside the U.S.
- Nokia PureView elevates industry standard in smartphone imaging
- New Asha feature phones and services grow increasingly 'smarter'
Barcelona, Spain - Nokia today introduced a range of new products, services and partnerships at Mobile World Congress, setting the pace for 2012 and demonstrating rapid execution of its new strategic direction. The new strategy already has resulted in the adoption of Windows Phone as Nokia's primary smartphone platform, major changes to its feature phones, and additional emphasis on location-based services with the launch of its Location & Commerce business.
"One year ago, we shared that Nokia was embarking on a new journey to build great mobile devices," said Stephen Elop, president and CEO of Nokia. "Today, with our fourth Lumia device, smarter mobile phones and an array of new services, we are demonstrating that we can change the clock speed of Nokia."
Lumia portfolio extends, availability expands
Nokia has extended the range of products with Windows Phone by introducing the Nokia Lumia 610, the most affordable Lumia yet, as well as targeting availability of the widely acclaimed Lumia 900 to additional markets beyond the U.S.
Aimed at young people who want an affordable introduction to Lumia and Windows Phone, the Nokia Lumia 610 provides easy access to social networks, web browsing, music, games, navigation and tens of thousands of apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace. It comes in four vibrant colors and will cost just €189, before taxes or subsidies, and is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2012.
The Nokia Lumia 900, which launched in January as Nokia's first LTE-enabled smartphone, will now be available in Dual Carrier HSPA for up 42.2 Mbps. The superior content experience of the phone's 4.3 inch ClearBlack AMOLED display and large capacity battery will be available to more countries around the world.
Nokia announced Nokia Reading providing a single, integrated reading hub experience. Nokia Reading makes it easier and faster to enjoy news, books, and audio books including an extensive catalogue of local language reading material and the ability to access content offline.
The announcements cap a year in which Nokia introduced the Lumia 710, Lumia 800 and Lumia 900 to critical acclaim and ahead of schedule.
New era in smartphone imaging starts with Nokia 808 PureView
Nokia also today ushered in a new era in high end smartphone imaging. The Nokia 808 PureView is the first smartphone to feature exclusive Nokia PureView imaging technologies that will enable a range of high-end imaging experiences into Nokia products over the coming years. The Nokia 808 PureView combines a large, high-resolution 41-megapixel sensor, Carl Zeiss optics and Nokia-developed pixel over-sampling technology. This means incredibly sharp, detailed images, superior low light performance and the capability to save images in compact file sizes for sharing in email, MMS and on social networks.
The Nokia 808 PureView also includes Nokia Rich Recording for CD-like quality audio recording, full HD 1080p video recording and playback, and exclusive Dolby Headphone technology to transform any stereo content into a personal surround sound experience over any headphones.
Asha ignites smarter feature phones
Nokia is further blurring the line between feature phones and smartphones, launching three new Asha devices for people who want to work, learn and play. Developed for urban consumers and entrepreneurs, the Nokia Asha 302 is a premium QWERTY device. It delivers a mobile office experience with push email and calendar, and contacts synchronization under the Mail for Exchange support - a first for Nokia Series 40 devices.
Designed for easy access to social networks, the Nokia Asha 202 and 203 bring touchscreens to volume-priced products and a pack of 40 free Electronic Arts games. The Asha 202 also features Nokia's Easy Swap Dual SIM technology, allowing people to simply swap between tariffs and get the best value from carriers.
Nokia is also differentiating itself by updating its popular Life Tools service, now called Nokia Life, that provides life-enhancing information across the range of Nokia Series 30 and Series 40 products, including the new Asha 202 and Asha 203. People in India, China, Indonesia and Nigeria will benefit from life skills, parenting, education, agriculture and entertainment services, delivered via SMS.
The new Asha devices complement the Nokia Asha range that is available now in more than 100 markets globally.
Going further, faster
In location-based services, Nokia and Groupon plan to offer market-leading location-sensitive discounts and deals. Nokia is also announcing a new version of Nokia Drive for Windows Phone that will come with full offline support for turn-by-turn navigation. Moving forward, Nokia Drive will also remember a personal commute, give advance traffic notice and automatically re-route to avoid jams.
Additionally, Nokia plans to release the Windows Phone version of Nokia Transport for door-to-door, underground, tram, suburban train, and bus directions in more than 500 cities and 45 countries.
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Check out the MWC 2012 posts also in Nokia Conversations
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Industry analyst - media reference & quote sheet for MWC 2012:
"The Nokia Lumia 610 launched today delivers a remarkable Windows Phone experience and a similar performance to the high-end Lumia 800, but at a significantly lower price point. Last year the analyst community advocated how important it was for the operating system and Nokia to deliver mid-price-tier Windows Phone smartphones to address the mass market, although no one was expecting to see a device at this price point before 2013. The Nokia Lumia 610 is a great example of how Nokia's strengths and expertise will help the company to differentiate by delivering faster than its competitors. This will give Nokia a lead in the market, as I don't expect to see any other competitor deliver a Windows Phone in this price tier any time soon. It's also a great achievement for the Windows Phone ecosystem overall, as it will help it become a fierce competitor to other platforms."
Francisco Jeronimo, IDC, Research Manager European Mobile Devices
"eReaders spurred the initial demand for electronic books and since then, tablets and smartphones have dramatically accelerated the demand for eBooks. The increased footprint of devices with reader apps and the expanding number of participating publishers and titles are the critical elements which can dramatically expand the ecosystem. Given Nokia's global reach, Nokia Reading should expand the eBook market across more countries, reaching more consumers."
Danielle Levitas, IDC, Group Vice President, Consumer, PCs, Broadband, & New Media
"With the PureView Pro Nokia has redefined the camera phone experience, leapfrogging compact cameras to deliver an image quality more akin to professional SLRs. It's great to see Nokia innovating in imaging again and hopefully will see this technology appear across its portfolio in the near future."
Nick Dillon, Ovum, Analyst, Platforms & Devices
"With the Nokia 808 PureView and PureView Pro technology behind it, Nokia is showing the industry that mobile camera technology is about more than just a megapixel race." said Carrie Sylvester, Senior Research Analyst, Consumer & Professional Imaging Trends. "PureView Pro technology is about using pixels in new ways, combining them with high precision optics, a sensor with excellent light gathering properties, and advanced Nokia image processing algorithms. The Nokia 808 PureView is a breakthrough in mobile imaging technology and sets an entirely new standard for the camera phone industry."
Carrie Sylvester, InfoTrends, Senior Research Analyst, Consumer and Professional Imaging Group
"Nokia's new imaging platform, PureView Pro represents the robust innovation needed for the company to maintain a long-term competitive advantage in the fiercely competitive mobile market. The clarity and low-light capture capability enabled by PureView Pro, coupled with robust HD video capture, will enable current and future Nokia products to appeal to not just photo enthusiasts, but enable new initiatives outside traditional consumer mobility, such as news-gathering, content authoring, and e-publishing."
Chris Chute, IDC, Research Manager, Worldwide Digital Imaging Practice, IDC
"The Asha portfolio brings a strong proposition of value, quality, productivity and entertainment. It resonates particularly well in high growth markets and the expanded range will set Nokia apart in the value-conscious segment from the plethora of me-too devices".
Rachel Lashford, Canalys, Managing Director, Mobile and APAC
"Nokia is taking important steps to further develop their Lumia portfolio by expanding into both a value-tier segment with the Nokia Lumia 610 and broadening the availability of the high-end Nokia Lumia 900 to the rest of the world. However, Nokia is also continuing to innovate for the future with breakthrough technology like PureView Pro on the Nokia 808 PureView - which shows that Nokia remains committed to staking its claim to technology leadership in the wireless industry."
Roger Entner, Recon Analytics, Analyst & Founder
About Nokia
Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Every day, more than 1.3 billion people use their Nokia to capture and share experiences, access information, find their way or simply to speak to one another. Nokia's technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world. For more information, visit http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
It should be noted that certain statements herein which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those regarding: A) the expected plans and benefits of our strategic partnership with Microsoft to combine complementary assets and expertise to form a global mobile ecosystem and to adopt Windows Phone as our primary smartphone platform; B) the timing and expected benefits of our new strategy, including expected operational and financial benefits and targets as well as changes in leadership and operational structure; C) the timing of the deliveries of our products and services; D) our ability to innovate, develop, execute and commercialize new technologies, products and services; E) expectations regarding market developments and structural changes; F) expectations and targets regarding our industry volumes, market share, prices, net sales and margins of products and services; G) expectations and targets regarding our operational priorities and results of operations; H) expectations and targets regarding collaboration and partnering arrangements; I) the outcome of pending and threatened litigation; J) expectations regarding the successful completion of acquisitions or restructurings on a timely basis and our ability to achieve the financial and operational targets set in connection with any such acquisition or restructuring; and K) statements preceded by "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "foresee," "target," "estimate," "designed," "plans," "will" or similar expressions. These statements are based on management's best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Because they involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from the results that we currently expect. Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: 1) our ability to succeed in creating a competitive smartphone platform for high-quality differentiated winning smartphones or in creating new sources of revenue through our partnership with Microsoft; 2) the expected timing of the planned transition to Windows Phone as our primary smartphone platform and the introduction of mobile products based on that platform; 3) our ability to maintain the viability of our current Symbian smartphone platform during the transition to Windows Phone as our primary smartphone platform; 4) our ability to realize a return on our investment in MeeGo and next generation devices, platforms and user experiences; 5) our ability to build a competitive and profitable global ecosystem of sufficient scale, attractiveness and value to all participants and to bring winning smartphones to the market in a timely manner; 6) our ability to produce mobile phones in a timely and cost efficient manner with differentiated hardware, localized services and applications; 7) our ability to increase our speed of innovation, product development and execution to bring new competitive smartphones and mobile phones to the market in a timely manner; 8) our ability to retain, motivate, develop and recruit appropriately skilled employees; 9) our ability to implement our strategies, particularly our new mobile product strategy; 10) the intensity of competition in the various markets where we do business and our ability to maintain or improve our market position or respond successfully to changes in the competitive environment; 11) our ability to maintain and leverage our traditional strengths in the mobile product market if we are unable to retain the loyalty of our mobile operator and distributor customers and consumers as a result of the implementation of our new strategy or other factors; 12) our success in collaboration and partnering arrangements with third parties, including Microsoft; 13) the success, financial condition and performance of our suppliers, collaboration partners and customers; 14) our ability to source sufficient quantities of fully functional quality components, subassemblies and software on a timely basis without interruption and on favorable terms, including the disruption of production and/or deliveries from any of our suppliers as a result of adverse conditions in the geographic areas where they are located; 15) our ability to manage efficiently our manufacturing, service creation, delivery and logistics without interruption; 16) our ability to ensure the timely delivery of sufficient volumes of products that meet our and our customers' and consumers' requirements and manage our inventory and timely adapt our supply to meet changing demands for our products; 17) any actual or even alleged defects or other quality, safety and security issues in our products; 18) any actual or alleged loss, improper disclosure or leakage of any personal or consumer data collected or made available to us or stored in or through our products; 19) our ability to successfully manage costs, including our ability to achieve targeted costs reductions and to effectively and timely execute related restructuring measures, including personnel reductions; 20) our ability to effectively and smoothly implement the new operational structure for our businesses; 21) the development of the mobile and fixed communications industry and general economic conditions globally and regionally; 22) exchange rate fluctuations, including, in particular, fluctuations between the euro, which is our reporting currency, and the US dollar, the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan, as well as certain other currencies; 23) our ability to protect the technologies, which we or others develop or that we license, from claims that we have infringed third parties' intellectual property rights, as well as our unrestricted use on commercially acceptable terms of certain technologies in our products and services; 24) our ability to protect numerous patented standardized or proprietary technologies from third-party infringement or actions to invalidate the intellectual property rights of these technologies; 25) the impact of changes in government policies, trade policies, laws or regulations and economic or political turmoil in countries where our assets are located and we do business; 26) any disruption to information technology systems and networks that our operations rely on; 27) unfavorable outcome of litigations; 28) allegations of possible health risks from electromagnetic fields generated by base stations and mobile products and lawsuits related to them, regardless of merit; 29) our ability to achieve targeted costs reductions and increase profitability in Nokia Siemens Networks and to effectively and timely execute related restructuring measures; 30) Nokia Siemens Networks' ability to maintain or improve its market position or respond successfully to changes in the competitive environment; 31) Nokia Siemens Networks' liquidity and its ability to meet its working capital requirements; 32) whether Nokia Siemens Networks is able to successfully integrate the acquired assets of Motorola Solutions' networks business, retain existing customers of the acquired business, cross-sell Nokia Siemens Networks' products and services to customers of the acquired business and otherwise realize the expected synergies and benefits of the acquisition; 33) Nokia Siemens Networks' ability to timely introduce new products, services, upgrades and technologies; 34) Nokia Siemens Networks' success in the telecommunications infrastructure services market and Nokia Siemens Networks' ability to effectively and profitably adapt its business and operations in a timely manner to the increasingly diverse service needs of its customers; 35) developments under large, multi-year contracts or in relation to major customers in the networks infrastructure and related services business; 36) the management of our customer financing exposure, particularly in the networks infrastructure and related services business; 37) whether ongoing or any additional governmental investigations into alleged violations of law by some former employees of Siemens AG may involve and affect the carrier-related assets and employees transferred by Siemens AG to Nokia Siemens Networks; 38) any impairment of Nokia Siemens Networks customer relationships resulting from ongoing or any additional governmental investigations involving the Siemens carrier-related operations transferred to Nokia Siemens Networks; as well as the risk factors specified on pages 12-39 of Nokia's annual report Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2010 under Item 3D. "Risk Factors." Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proving to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Nokia does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.
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