Smartphones can have 'grand impact' on Indian Market: Nokia

Bangalore, Aug 4 (UNI) Smartphones, offering advanced capabilities beyond a typical mobilephone, are gaining popularity in India and will have a 'grand impact' on the country's cell-phone market, Nokia country Director (Marketing) Devinder Kishore said here today.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function, where he announced the launch of Geographical Positioning System (GPS)-enabled 'Nokia 6210 Navigator' handset, he said though the market in India for smartphones, offering value-added services, is still nascent, they offer great potential.

''India is already the third largest market for smartphones after China and Japan. According to Indian Survey company Canalys, this category cell phones would have a grand impact on the market in the coming months,'' he said.

He said with 3G technology expected to be made available in India in the next six months, Nokia is braced to offer 3G-compliant handsets.

''We are already offering 30 devices in the market that are 3G compliant. When the technology is rolled out, our customers need not run in search of it as Nokia has the biggest range of 3G compliant devices ranging from Rs 7,000 to Rs 35,000,'' he said.

Mr Kishore said the price of the 3G-enabled handset will depend on the service bundle the customer opts for.

Nokia's role would be to give end-to-end devices at a reasonable cost. The pricing of Nokia devices in India is connected to world pricing, he claimed.

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