by Gillian Law

Nokia to launch another 40 products in 2004

news
Mar 25, 20041 min

Company restructures to focus on mobile phones, multimedia, networks, and enterprise solutions

Nokia Corp. launched a record 40 products last year and intends to keep up that level of releases in 2004 as the market recovers, it said Thursday.

The mobile phone market grew 15 percent in 2003, to 470 million handsets, Jorma Ollila, chairman and chief executive officer said in a statement released after Nokia’s annual general meeting (AGM) Thursday. The infrastructure market also showed signs of recovery, he said.

The company plans to focus on three areas in 2004; expanding mobile voice, driving consumers’ use of multimedia and encouraging more business use of mobile applications, it said. In order to do this, the company has been restructured into four business divisions as of Jan. 1; Mobile Phones, Multimedia, Networks and Enterprise Solutions.

Nokia’s total net sales for the year were €29.5 billion ($35.8 billion), 1 percent less than in 2002, Ollila said. However, the drop in sales was partly due to the depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the euro over the year; at constant currency rates, sales would have grown by 7 percent, he said.

Nokia gained the number-one share in the U.S., and the No. 1 share in the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) market in China, he said.