Nokia has launched three new phones in India today, making a comeback in the smartphone market after a long hiatus. The iconic mobile phone brand's has launched new devices were first announced in February at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.
Now, the phone-maker has launched a trio of smartphones in India in the mid-range price point — Nokia 3, Nokia 5, and Nokia 6. The phones will be produced by HMD Global and will carry the Nokia tag.
Availibility
Nokia 3 and Nokia 5 will be offline exclusives for the consumers. While Nokia 3 is available from 16 June while the pre-bookings for Nokia 5 will begin on 7 July. The company has tied up with Amazon for the sale of Nokia 6 exclusively. The registrations for the sale of will begin on 16 July.
Market position and challenges
A look at the spec sheet above indicates that the phones don't have any extraordinary specifications. The entry-level processors, the battery sizes, ports and cameras are decent at best.
Traditionally, the Nokia brand has been associated with sturdy and long-lasting phones, and that was one of the pegs of the HMD Global presentation on the new smartphones at MWC Barcelona.
The brand Nokia has huge nostalgia value in India. The recently released reincarnation of the classic feature phone, Nokia 3310, went out of stock in just a few days. However, the smartphone game has changed a lot in the intervening years. Once big Indian brands such as Micromax have dropped out of the rankings and the Chinese brands have taken over the market completely, with Xiaomi and Lenovo leading in online sales, and Oppo and Vivo posting high sales volumes at offline outlets.
HMD Global already has an offline network in place and it has been selling the 3310 exclusively through this channel. For a brand like Nokia, it will be easy to get onto multiple online sales channels too. A majority of mobile sales In India still happen in offline brick and mortar retail outlets.
If it is back in the game for the long haul, Nokia will have to deliver good phones, with nice cameras and quick software updates. All of which will be relatively easy with just three phones in the market, but as Nokia launches more phones its approach to business will be keenly watched.
Ajey Mehta, HMD Global's India VP, had announced earlier that all Nokia phones will be made in India in partnership with Foxconn. Local manufacturing had become an issue for Xiaomi — currently the phone-maker with the second highest sales figures in India — as, earlier on, it used to import most of its devices. Despite the high demand, Xiaomi had to rely on flash sales to sell its phones. With its phones being produced locally, Nokia shouldn't face this problem.
It now remains to be seen how Nokia's immense nostalgia value will shape its future in India and how the brand will reinvent itself.