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Nokia dials in to competition with revamped smartphones
15 Sep 2010 - 11:57
Finnish cellphone giant Nokia on Tuesday unveiled its latest range of smartphones as it bids to recover lost ground to rivals Apple and Blackberry.
The launch follows a series of major changes at board level, with the recent resignations of chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo and smartphone operations chief Anssi Vanjoki.
Last week it was announced that Stephen Elop, who previously headed up Microsoft's Business Division, would take over from Kallasvuo on September 20, while Vanjoki, who is credited for revamping the company's smartphone business, would remain in his post until a replacement is found. According to media reports, he was thought to be one of the leading internal candidates for the CEO role.
"The time is right to accelerate the company's renewal; to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths in order to drive company success," Jorma Ollila, Chairman of the Nokia Board of Directors, said in a statement.
That renewal process continued at Tuesday's Nokia World showcase in London, when three new smartphones -- the E7, C7 and the C6 -- were introduced. Like the flagship N8 model, unveiled earlier this year, the sleek new devices are powered by a new Symbian 3 operating system which offers hundreds of new features such as the ability to play high definition video through your phone to your wide screen TV at home.
Symbian is already the most widely used operating system for mobiles in the world, but Nokia admits competitors such as Apple and Google have started to catch up.
"Today our fight back to smartphone leadership shifts into high gear," Niklas Savander, Nokia's markets chief, told delegates in London.
"Despite new competition, Symbian remains the most widely used smartphone platform in the world. Our new family of smartphones introduced today feature the all-new Symbian OS, rewritten to be faster, easier to use, more efficient and more developer friendly."
However technology journalist Kevin Tofel, who attended Nokia World, told CNN that he feels Nokia may stem the loss of market share with their latest offerings but this is "basically a band-aid."
He added: "What Nokia is actually saying is MeeGo, their next big announcement and operating system, is really going to shake up the competitors.
"But I'm not hearing anyone from any country raving about the new products at the moment."
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