Nokia Corp., the world’s largest handset maker, Wednesday said Symbian would remain the key software platform for its smartphones, as it forecast a 10% rise in overall industry volumes next year following a period of sharp contraction.
In a sign of the growing importance of platforms to the industry, Nokia said Wednesday it had made significant improvements to the next version of the Symbian user interface, as it also gave its first industry projections for next year.
“In 2010, we will drive user experience improvements, and the progress we make will take the Symbian user interface to a new level,” said Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, adding it had “reach and flexibility like no other platform.”
He also said that a higher proportion of its smartphones–the one area of the handset market that has continued to grow during the recession–will have touch screens or full QWERTY keyboards compared with previously.
The Espoo, Finland-based company, hosting its capital markets day, also said it would focus on stabilizing the average selling price of its handsets to increase revenue.
“Going into 2010, the overall mobile devices market is stabilizing and it is growing more in the areas where Nokia has competitive advantages,” Chief Financial Officer Timo Ihamuotila said.
Nokia said it will continue to focus on applications for its phones, targeting net sales from its Services unit of EUR2 billion or more in 2011 from an expected 300 million active users by the end of 2011.
To differentiate its products from rivals, Nokia has increasingly focused on applications such as navigation, its Comes With Music phones, and the Ovi online portal. Ovi means ‘door’ in Finnish.
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