Nokia readies for 3310’s Gulf launch
HMD to launch the iconic handset on June 1 for Dh199, and three other models after that
MD Global is launching the revamped Nokia 3310 and three other new models — Nokia 3, 5, and 6 — in June across Gulf countries.
HMD Global is the company that owns the rights to sell Nokia-branded phones and tablets for 10 years. It develops, builds and sells the phones with inputs from Nokia.
“The iconic 3310 will be available from June 1 for Dh199 and the other models after that. The 3310 will be available across 100 countries by June in four different colours — yellow and red in glossy finish, and blue and grey in matt finish,” Sanmeet Singh Kochhar, General Manager for Middle East at HMD Global, told Gulf News in an interview.
It has a 2.4-inch (240 x 320) colour display and a 2MP rear camera compared to the monochrome of the original.
HMD said the Snake game will be snaking its way back into people’s hearts with a new version available to play on Messenger, part of Facebook’s Instant Games cross-platform experience.
Kochhar said that the 3310 brings together the core of Nokia legacy and coupled with modern finish and design. He said the initial response was overwhelming. It has 30 days of standby time and 22 hours of talk time coupled with the Snake game.
“The unique proposition and the strategic partnerships with trade partners such as Foxconn, Nokia and Google are going to be the key differentiators,” he said. Smartphone users can use the device as a companion device.
Asked whether people will buy the 2G device as the world is moving towards 5G, he said that there is a still a significant appetite for 2G phones globally. Quoting a GSMA Intelligence report, he said that 2G technology still accounts for 58 per cent of the world mobile connections and it will still maintain its dominance at the beginning of 2019.
Chequered history
At its peak in 2008, Nokia was the world’s top mobile phone company. It shipped 468 million handsets, of which 60 million were smartphones. It had a mobile market share of whopping 41 per cent then.
Nokia lost its leadership position in 2011 to Samsung and in 2014, sold its business to Microsoft for $7.2 billion (Dh26.44 billion).
But HMD is still making the feature [basic] phones which are still used in many countries, especially in Africa.
According to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), 215.33 million mobile handsets were shipped in Africa during 2016. Out of this, feature phones totalled 119.97 million units with a 16.1 per cent year-on-year increase.
“There are people who go for a short vacation and do not want to take their smartphones with them. They prefer feature phones due to its long battery life. We expect to grow our footprint with this device in the Middle East,” Kochhar said.