Nokia will no doubt receive aboost from thelaunch ofits ‘clutch’ of Nokia Ashas (Hindi for "hope"), the 200, the 201, the 300 and the 301.
Much was made of the 200for being dual SIM and the 300for being preloaded with Angry Birds. We are not sure these handsets will be enough to hold back the tide of competition beating on its Indian shores. Only one of the Ashas was dual SIM. Surely more dual SIM handsets are needed?
Nokia will still need to continue to aggressively refresh its low-end and ultra-low end handset models if the vendor is intent on further regaining some of its lost market-share. In 3Q-2011, Nokia made swingeing cuts to its wholesale pricing that helped the vendor to claw back market-share from 24.5% (2Q-2011) to 27.8%. While market-share swung up, profit margins swung down. Nokia cannot keep on hacking away at retail prices to boost market-share. Nokia will need to ensure it has competitive product at sustainable pricing points, otherwise its market-share could well take a swan dive again.
