Nokia: connecting old and new generations with Android smartphones

Finnish phone brand Nokia, under the ownership of the HMD Global, is making a bid to reclaim territory in the mobile phone market by introducing an Android-focused strategy for developing smartphones.

In a one-on-one interview with SunStar Cagayan de Oro on Tuesday, December 6, HMD Global Philippines country manager Shannon Mead introduced Nokia 3310, Nokia 3, Nokia 5, Nokia 6, and its recently released smartphone Nokia 8, the latter four all running on an Android operating system (OS).

“From the success that Nokia had maybe 10 years ago, the world and the Philippines has change a lot since then. We weren't as digital back then so the types of media, the ways we communicated with our customers, with our consumers, is very different so we need to think about how we engage with them,” Mead said.

Mead said Nokia, whose corporate slogan is “connecting people,” not only aims to understand how to communicate with the next generation but also to make sure they can connect to the old generation.

“The best thing about Nokia as a brand is it's a very human brand, it's one that people can relate to, usually kinda have a deep connection with the brand,” Mead said.

With its re-entrance to the technology business, Nokia, Mead said, is to ensure it still remains to be relevant, adding that what's relevant for the older generation versus what's relevant for the millennial all leads to making sure how the device performs.

“Phones for somebody old means I want to hang on to this for the next five years and make sure it doesn't break or die. For somebody new its actually wanna make sure it's always got the latest but I'm going to buy something the next week or next month,” Mead said.

He added that Nokia makes certain that its products attract or “not scare away” the older generation for adapting to the latest technology.

After moving from Windows to Android, Nokia, through its smartphones, offers its customers a pure, secure and up to date experience.

Nokia presents an app experience wherein there are no freeloading of applications that the consumers does not want which makes the phone work faster and easier to process things that the users atually want.

In a security perspective, Mead said they make sure that every month there's a security update.

“So every month the user, the consumer, will be able to get the latest version of the security patches,” Mead added.

As for its operating system upgrade, Nokia smartphone devices are currently on Nougat, “while some other brands are still on Marshmallow and even on Lollipop,” Mead said, with Nokia 8 running on Oreo.

Entering a new chapter of mobile services, Mead said Nokia also sets its sight in increasing the brand visibility in the market by reintroducing the brand to the consumers, especially those of the next generation, and aiming to reach the Top 3 for the next few years.

“We're coming as a challenger; we're coming in at zero percent. We're ambitious but we know it will be a long way to go,” Mead said.

HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones and tablets, celebrated its first anniversary on December 1. HMD designs and markets a range of smartphones and feature phones targeted at a range of consumers and price points.

HMD Global has already released its new portfolio of six Nokia smartphones and five feature phones in over 80 markets with activations in 170 countries, delivering websites in 48 languages and setting up solid foundations for future growth.

The implementation of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) can bring significant welfare and trade benefits to the Philippines and other participating countries to the trading bloc.

"RCEP, which is poised to set a higher standard than the existing ASEAN-plusone agreements, will reap higher welfare gains by countries participating in the long term," said Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Economic Outlook report for Southeast Asia, China and India.

The report said RCEP free trade agreement (FTA) is believed to have the potential to reshape the region's existing economic integration framework into a more committed and binding agreement that extends beyond traditional trade agreements.

"The RCEP trade agreement holds great potential but faces challenges," it said. "Despite progress on the RCEP, stumbling blocks remain. While most of the participating countries have existing FTAs with one another, some do not."

It noted more time will be thus needed for participating countries to negotiate from scratch, and this will have an impact on the time needed to finalize the negotiations.

The OECD report said another factor that is complicating the finalization process of RCEP negotiations concerns the large number of countries involved and their level of development, with priorities and interests differing among participants.

"Despite these caveats, the RCEP still has the potential to become a very inclusive agreement with a balanced agenda for growth in the area of trade liberalization and for protecting the rights of consumers and workers," it said.