The world's largest mobile phone maker Nokia has said it is still possible for it to keep a long-term global market share in handsets of over 40 per cent.
"We have said that 40 per cent is our target," chief executive Mr Jorma Ollila said in a webcast speech in Frankfurt during the company's annual investor road show.
"But let me note that 40 per cent-plus is not impossible longer term, as long as we achieve meaningful market positions in Korea and Japan," he added.
Korea and Japan are becoming increasingly important markets for mobile phone makers as the Asian region is expected to overtake Europe as the biggest handset market in terms of unit sales this year, according to analysts and independent research.
Finland's Nokia raised its market share to about 37 percent in the first-quarter from 32 percent in the last quarter of last year despite fierce competition, a slowing global economy - particularly in the U.S. - and a maturing European market.
Ollila said he expected Nokia to keep its market-leading operating margins for handsets at sustainable levels for the next three to five years. In the first quarter of this year, they exceeded 20 per rcent.
Nokia says that the right mixture of phone models, an ability to determine what consumers want and when, huge economies of scale and its well-known brand allows it to maintain high profits at a time when all its main rivals fail even to make money on their phones.
Loss-making Motorola, the world's second-largest mobile phone maker, has seen its global market share fall to around 12 percent as it struggles to tempt consumers with its phone portfolio.
Ericsson, which also is losing money, lost its position as the third-largest mobile phone maker to Siemens in the January-March period - highlighting the tough conditions in the industry.
Nokia shares were warmed by Ollila's comments, ending up 1.2 percent at 36.85 euros, after earlier trading lower on weak U.S. economic data. Swedish rival Ericsson was up about 1.6 percent at 64.5 crowns at 1540 GMT compared with a steady Dow Jones European Technology index.