Nokia cashes in on clamshells

Clamshells were the buzzword in Helsinki because they had been widely talked up across the industry as the product that was missing…

Clamshells were the buzzword in Helsinki because they had been widely talked up across the industry as the product that was missing from the Nokia portfolio.

Although clamshells have been available since the 1990s, pioneered by Motorola with its Star Trek-influenced StarTAC, consumers went mad for them in the past year, buying up competitors' clamshells with abandon and leaving Nokia with slipping market share.

The company has countered with a low and mid-priced clamshell offering.

The 2650 is its new entry level clamshell and is the first colour-screen mobile in Nokia's low-cost range.

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The 6170 is a new mid-range clamshell, with a camera and push-to-talk capabilities (a walkie-talkie style method of two-way communication).

Nokia is bullish on the smartphone market and has a new offering in that line, the 6260, a swivel-screen tri-band phone "designed for mobile professionals", as the company says.

Running on the Symbian operating system, the phone has Bluetooth and push-to-talk and other bells and whistles.

With its folding swivel-screen design, Nokia is classifying this as a clamshell as well.

Its most elaborate offering is the 6630, a new silver dual 3G/2G smartphone, which the company says is the world's smallest 3G phone.

It comes with a megapixel camera, MP3 music player, and will work on 2G, 3G and EDGE networks in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

The company classifies this phone as a mid-range offering.

The product comes with a price tag of under €500.