![]()
- Intel to remain open on Sabbath in Jerusalem
- Egypt to apply for first Arabic domain name
- New ‘Call of Duty’ rakes in $310 million in 1 day
- Intel settles AMD claims but isn't off the hook
- 'Call of Duty' sells $310M in N Amer, UK in 24 hrs
- HP's 3Com takeover marks a shot at Cisco
- Applied Materials to cut 1,300 to 1,500 jobs
- Drug industry presses FDA to allow more online ads
TECHNOLOGY NEWS FROM NYTIMES.COM
- Video Game Review | New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Mario and Luigi, Back to the Wii: The More Players, the Deadlier
- Underdog Palm Takes on Giants in Smartphones
- From Treasury, an Invitation to Financial Bloggers
- About Half in U.S. Would Pay for Online News, Study Finds
- At Checkout, More Ways to Avoid Cash or Plastic
MOST SHARED
- U.S. May Wind Up Green With Envy
- Warren Buffett to CNBC: 'I Haven't Bought American Express In Years'
- CNBC Video: Warren Buffett & Bill Gates - Keeping American Great
- EADS Cautious on Full-Year Forecast after Earnings Dip
- Japan Third Quarter GDP Jumps; 2010 Growth May Slow
- Stronger Yuan Needed for Global Rebalancing: IMF Chief
- Taking a Page from Obama's Asia Agenda in Investing
- Thai Economy to Grow up to 3.5% in 2010: Prime Minister
- GM to Start Repaying US Government Loan
- Cisco Ups Tandberg Bid, Claims Over 40% Backing
- 'Significant Weakness' Still Ahead: Fed's Hoenig
- BlackRock: Central Banks To Be Net Buyers of Gold
- Stronger Yuan Needed for Global Rebalancing: IMF Chief
- Washington Not Trying to Contain China: Obama
- Japan Third Quarter GDP Jumps; 2010 Growth May Slow
- How Much Do You Know About Green?
- JP Morgan to Bid Over $3 Billion for Cazenove Stake
Nokia Oyj, the world's largest mobile phone maker, unveiled its flagship N97 model smartphone on Tuesday, which drew a lukewarm response from analysts.
Nokia [NOK
Loading...
()
] expects the handset -- with a large touch screen, retailing for 550 euros ($693) before taxes and subsidies and due to reach market in the first half of 2009 -- will bolster its N-Series smartphone offering.
![]() |
It has promised to introduce touch screen models across its portfolio. Nokia was the last major handset maker to introduce touch screen phones after the runaway success of Apple Inc.'s [AAPL
Loading...
()
] iPhone, and last month started to sell its first such model.
Its ailing position in the high end of the mobile phone market worries investors and analysts as this is expected to weigh on the Finnish group's profit margins.
"Without a doubt Nokia needed a high-end touch screen phone," said Martti Larjo, analyst at Nordea.
The new N97 is a direct rival to Sony Ericsson's X1 and HTC's Touch Pro -- both of which use Microsoft's [MSFT
Loading...
()
] Windows software -- and analysts said by the time it goes on sale more direct rivals will likely have appeared.
"It might give Nokia a little edge, but it's six months until this reaches the market," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.
CCS Insight's Research Director, Ben Wood, said Nokia had faced difficult choices with the N97.
"It tried to cram in lots of different technologies such as a touch screen, full qwerty keyboard and plenty of memory, but it had to make trade-offs in its size and features," he said.
"It has ended up with a relatively thick device that lacks some of the benchmark features expected in flagship products in mid-2009," he said.
Nokia shares were up 2.46 percent at 10.82 euros by 1144 GMT, compared with a 1.44 percent rise in the Dow Jones Stoxx European technology index.
High Hopes
Nokia said at 550 euros, the new phone will retail at a price similar to the previous flagship models N95 and N96 when these were first came to market.
It introduced its last major N-series hit, the N95, in 2006 and started its sales early last year. To date it has sold more than 15 million N95s, creating revenues of several billion.
Nokia continues to dominate the global market for smartphones -- handsets with computer-like features such as e-mail -- but it sold less of them in the third quarter than a year ago, losing market share to Apple and Blackberry-maker RIM.
The Vice President of Nokia's Devices unit, Jonas Geust, told Reuters of the N97: "This is really the start of the new N-series ... really kicking off the next wave."
Geust said touch screens and full-qwerty keyboards will be key features in the new wave of products.
"What would there be these days without touch ... Touch for this category of devices is going to be important. Qwerty is also going to be important," he said.
The battle for a bigger share of the smartphone business has heated up since Apple introduced its iPhone last year, and all vendors are after a bigger slice of the market, which is set to continue growing despite gloom in the wider markets.
"It's clear no-one can escape the current economic situation," Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told a news conference, but declined to elaborate further as the company is set to update analysts on its market outlook on December 4.
Meanwhile, the company also said it closed its acquisition of mobile software maker Symbian on Tuesday.
- Where, what, how.
- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates spoke to Columbia students, and Buffett made the students a startling offer.
- For the chief of cable company Comcast, growth has been about making deals – generally very large deals.
- Some companies may start using insurance to shift carbon risk from their balance sheets to maybe... yours?
- The president and founder of Genesis Today wants to improve America’s health, and thinks Wal-Mart can help.
- Switzerland's privacy watchdog is taking legal action to force Google to make changes to its Street View service.













