Nokia keen on more partnerships
SMARTPHONE manufacturer Nokia seeks to seal more partnerships to increase its presence in the Philippines in a bid to clinch the third spot in the global market, a ranking official said.
Shannon Mead, HMD Global country manager for Philippines, said the group is targeting to further boost Nokia’s brand in the Philippine market with various local channels.
HMD Global now manages Nokiabranded smartphones, feature phones and tablets.
“It’s important for growing brands to be across as many different touchpoints as we can. It’s important that we make our products not only accessible from the price point but where people can purchase them also,” he told reporters following Nokia’s product launch last week.
Mead noted the company is “in discussions with other partners” for the brand’s mobile channel, adding them with its current e- commerce platform partners Lazada Philippines and Argomall.
Mead also expressed optimism that Nokia could become the top three smartphone producers worldwide in the next three to five years.
“[ T]hat’s what we set last year and incredibly buoyed by the fact that we’re already in the top 5 globally within our first year operation. So we’ve got some work to do here in the Philippines and we know there’s aggressive competition but we believe we can actually connect with Filipinos,” he said.
Despite the increasing smartphone penetration, Mead stressed Nokia will still develop and offer feature phones for the local market as the group still sees “a huge demand for these phones.”
At the media launch, HMD Global introduced new line-up of Nokia phones--Nokia 7 plus, Nokia 1, New Nokia 6, and Nokia 8110 4G. Shannon Mead, HMD Global country manager for Philippines, present to the media Nokia’s latest offerings