Nokia broadens product range with launch of laptop

NOKIA HAS launched its first computer in almost two decades as the world’s largest phone maker aims to broaden its product range in a declining mobile market.

Nokia pulled out of the PC market in 1991 after failing to compete with the likes of Dell. But the declining mobile market is adding pressure for Nokia to diversify.

The company’s small laptop, or netbook, will have access to Nokia Music Store and allow syncing with Nokia phones. The Booklet 3G will come with Ovi Maps and assisted GPS pre-installed, allowing the laptop to identify its location.

Selling additional services is a key plank of Nokia’s longer-term strategy. It hopes to have 300 million service customers by 2012, from fewer than 60 million today.

Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner, the analyst group, said that bundled services would be a key way to differentiate Nokia in the nascent but already crowded netbook market.

“There is so much hype around the netbook form factor,” she said, but that market “has not been proven in its longevity”.

Nokia’s decision to launch a netbook came as Gartner said that worldwide mobile phone sales fell 6.1 per cent in the second quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2008. Nokia’s market share fell from 39.5 per cent to 36.8 per cent, as Samsung and LG gained share.

Nokia is the leader in the smartphone market, the most profitable segment that saw sales increase 27 per cent in the second quarter. But it faces stiff competition from RIM’s BlackBerry and the Apple iPhone.

“We are in the business of connecting people, and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us,” said Kai Oistamo, Nokia’s executive vice-president for devices. “A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility.”

Lines between different classes of devices are increasingly becoming blurred. Just last week, Dell revealed its plans to enter the smartphone market, along with other computer makers, such as HP and Asustek. Asustek, which pioneered the netbook with its Eee PC, has demonstrated a laptop running Google’s mobile operating system, Android.

The Booklet is likely to be sold by mobile operators bundled with a data tariff. Ms Milanesi estimates it could sell for €500-€800, more expensive than most netbooks.

The Booklet 3G runs on the Intel Atom processor, commonly found in the small computers known as netbooks, and it uses Microsoft’s Windows operating system. It comes with 3G and WiFi connections for wireless internet and claims 12 hours of battery life.

A release date has not yet been set but the Booklet could be available before Christmas. - (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009)