NOKIA EXPECTS NEW STRATEGY TO OUTPERFORM THE MARKET

       Nokia Thailand believes it will be able to outperform the market this year in terms of both sales volume and sales value, following the recent adjustment of its business strategy.
       General manager Shumit Kapoor yesterday forecast that the value of the overall handset market this year would be flat, with volume growing by 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent. However, he believes the local economy will start picking up in the next quarter.
       Industrialists forecast handset sales of about 8 million in Thailand this year.
       Kapoor said he was satisfied with his performance since taking office almost six months ago at a time when the Thai handset market was hit hard by the global economic crisis.
       He said he had improved Nokia Thailand's operations and adjusted its marketing strategy to be more localised. As part of the move, Nokia recently appointed Thai celebrities to be campaign ambassadors for selected handset models.
       It has also teamed up with mobile-phone operators to aggressively launch selected high-end models, combined with special privileges offered by the operators.
       Kapoor said Nokia had continued to focus on all segments of the handset market, but with particular emphasis on the middle to high segments.
       Yesterday it unveiled the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, priced at Bt9,250 and available in Thailand next month.
       The world's No-1 mobile-phone maker is confronted with competition from all sides in the local market. In the smart-phone segment, the BlackBerry and iPhone 3G devices are gaining rising popularity among Thai tech geeks and businessmen following aggressive tapping of the mass market.
       Nokia also faces tough competition from house-brand phones, which offer affordable prices and rich features.