Stuttgart - Finnish cellphone group Nokia has responded to analysts' criticism of a weak product portfolio and diminishing market share by coming out with all guns blazing at its annual Nokia World conference in Germany.
The group's vice president for markets Anssi Vanjok said the company is aggressively attacking the mobile market.
"We are not on the defensive, we are on the offensive," he told delegates.
The company made several product announcements in the run-up to the conference, including Comes With Music - a service that provides free music from the Nokia Music Store to owners of particular models of Nokia phones.
"To buy the top 100 albums on iTunes one would have to spend close to €1 00," said Vanjok, as opposed to it being almost free for Comes with Music customers.
Smartphones
Although the company is the market leader in the sector, it lost some ground in the lucrative smartphone space, which represents a rapidly growing market. The company said it has turned this situation around already.
In an interview with Fin24.com, Nokia's senior vice president for devices, Dr Kai ?stämö said Nokia's market share for smartphones is now growing.
"We have shown that we have a clear strategy to address the smartphone market, but this doesn't mean we are moving away from the low end either," he said.
Nokia is about to ship its two millionth N97 device - the flagship smartphone. At Nokia World, the company revealed the N97 Mini and the N900 that it said will continue to grow its share of the market.
Nokia has recently announced a partnership with Microsoft for the joint development of mobile productivity applications, including Microsoft Office for Nokia devices. This followed an earlier announcement of a partnership with processor manufacturer Intel.
?stämö said these partnerships show Nokia's ability to collaborate.
"Five to ten years ago this might've been unthinkable," he said. "Now we have a deep partnership in addressing mobile productivity. We will continue on this path - partnering and acquiring the skills that the new world will require."
Revisiting laptops
The company has revisited the laptop market with a new product called the Booklet 3G that is essentially a netbook with built-in GPS, 3G connectivity and a claim of a 12-hour battery life.
"I don't understand why someone else didn't come up with this," said ?stämö.
"Why should I have to take a charger with me on a day trip to London? And why don't these devices have built in 3G? Why are they big and bulky?"
Nokia Money was another new service announced at Nokia World, targeting the world's unbanked masses and playing into the cellphone payment space.
Message to the market
?stämö said the flood of new announcements was designed to send a message to the market.
"Part of it is to show the speed of change within the company and that we are on the move," he said. "Right now we are fighting back. We have an aggressive plan and we are winning in the market."
- Fin24.com