Nokia adds 'touch' to Asha series.....

NEW DELHI: Finnish handset maker Nokia has strengthened its feature phone series 'Asha' by adding three new full-touch handsets as it looks to catch up with rivals, particularly in emerging markets like India.

The three new phone models -- Asha 305, Asha 306 and Asha 311 -- expands the company's Asha series, which was first introduced in October last year, Nokia said in a statement.

With the additions, the series now has 10 devices available in more than 130 markets.

Though the India-specific pricing was not available, the retail price for Asha 305 is expected to be about 63 euros (about Rs 4,350 excluding taxes and subsidies) and will start shipping in the second quarter of 2012.

The estimated retail price for Asha 306 is 68 euros (about Rs 4,700), while Asha 311 may carry a price tag of 92 euros (about Rs 6,360). Both devices are expected to start shipping in the third quarter of 2012.

"By introducing the Asha Touch phones to the market, we are accelerating our commitment to connect the next billion consumers. These phones deliver on what young, urban people value most -- a great-looking device; and an intuitive and affordable experience for connecting to the internet," Nokia Executive VP (Mobile Phones) Mary T McDowell said.

The Asha 311 is a 3.5G capacitive touchscreen device powered by a 1 GHz processor, while the Asha 305 has dual SIM feature.

Asha 306, a single SIM model, is the most affordable Wi-Fi handset from the Nokia stable to date, the statement said.

"The mass-market is a competitive segment, but we believe Nokia's upgraded Asha portfolio has included an attractive package that can enable consumers to have lower running costs, taking advantage of things like its compressed browser and a long-life battery," Strategy Analytics Executive Director (Devices Research) Neil Mawston said.

It is interesting to see how Nokia is promoting its Asha strategy with global launches taking place in important high-growth markets such as Asia, he added.

Nokia has lost market share globally to competitors like Apple and Samsung in the smartphone category. It has also lost its position as the world's largest volume cellphone maker to Samsung as per shipment data in January-March 2012, according to research firm Gartner.

While it looks to gain back market in the smartphone category, it is also focussing on tapping the booming market for feature phones, especially in countries like India.

Nokia's massive launch of local mapping services for India

Nokia’s mapping service NAVTEQ has steadily but quietly added powerful features like indoor mapping, natural voice guidance in regional languages, and search using points of interests that make it a valuable navigation product.

Indoor maps have been around for a while with Bing and Google offering maps for malls and airports. Last year, Nokia owned mapping service NAVTEQ introduced indoor mapping called Destination Maps for navigation beyond the front door.

NAVTEQ is the first major mapping service to bring indoor mapping to India. The product is being launched with indoor maps for 150 malls in 17 cities. (An impressive launch number.) In another announcement the same day, NAVTEQ talked about their entire suite of products for the Indian consumer.

Unlike the US, mapping in India is more challenging, every building does not have a specific number and neither is every address in the same format. Nokia faced this challenge and explains that, for India, the company has introduced a feature called Points of Interest and Points Addressing. The features enables users to search for their destination by searching for points of interest around the area. NAVTEQ says they already have nearly 6.25 points of interests in their database.

The other service Nokia is bringing to India is known as Natural Guidance. (Probably the coolest in my opinion if it can do what it says.) The description of the product is pretty straightforward, instead of robotic directions like “Right after .25 Miles,” the GPS device will give you more natural directions like, “Go right from the Green building.” This would be very cool to have.

Introduced for 14 cities, Natural Guidance will use landmarks and signs like traffic signals to announce directions. The fun and localization does not stop there. The company says they are bringing these features in regional languages like Hindi, Tamil and Gujrati.

Nokia is going through a transition and even though India considered to be Nokia’s backyard, the company has some catching up to do. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop believes location services are a natural step for the company and they have been focusing on location services like restaurant recommendations.