African market is central to our growth, says Nokia chief

Nokia has stated it has a broad portfolio of mobile devices specifically targeted at the African market for its African market.Blanca Juti Nokia's Vice President Product Marketing Mobile Phones made this known during the just concluded Nokia World conference held in London. According to her, Nokia acknowledges that even though most people in the continent have the aspiration and the need to communicate, not everyone can afford a supper high phone that is why the company has designed a broad range to phone types to meet the needs of these people.'We obviously as a company have a broad portfolio which goes from the lowest to the highest range, and since Africa is an emerging market in terms of Smartphone users, the company's focus is to design various phones to meet their consumers aspirations,' Blanca Juti said.Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Nokia's technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world and Africa in particular.The Nokia executive said 'Africa is extremely important to Nokia, in that the continent has the highest growth and it's still a penetrating market with so much potential'.At the Nokia World, the company introduced its first two smartphones - Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 based on Windows Phone as well as the Nokia Asha range of phones.According to Ms Juti introducing the new smart phones means Nokia sees a great opportunity ahead and it's repositioning itself to take advantage of it.'Focusing on the new Nokia range of phones, you can see the hunger to succeed to do well in the competitive market in which we find ourselves, and to build on what we have,' Ms Juti added.During the Nokia event, the company showcased the Nokia Car Mode, which it announced in September this year with Internationale Automobil Ausstellung.The Nokia Car Mode is a standalone application optimized for the in-car use of Nokia smartphones.It features an optimized user interface simplifying the access and use of Nokia Drive (voice-guided car navigation with Nokia Maps), traffic updates, music and voice calls while driving.The integration of smartphones and their capabilities into cars is playing an important part in Nokia's Location & Commerce business strategy, extending the existing ecosystem and thus providing benefits and opportunities for consumers, automotive companies, application developers and advertisers alike.
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