HELSINKI: The world's top cellphone maker Nokia will unveil its first touch-screen phone at a media and analyst event in London next week, two industry sources told media on Friday.
Smaller handset vendors -- LG Electronics, Apple and Samsung Electronics -- have rolled out numerous popular touch-screen phones over the last two years. Both sources said Nokia was set to unveil the phone, codenamed "Tube", on Oct 2.
A Nokia spokeswoman declined to comment. "The phone is extremely important. We have been waiting for the market leader to respond to iPhone for a year and a half now. There is a lot of pressure on Nokia," said Carolina Milanesi, analyst at Gartner.
Nokia said in July it would introduce its first touch-screen phone this year, and would sell it more cheaply than rival touch-screen models in order to tap into a higher-volume market. "The demand outlook in emerging markets, like India, is good for a cheaper touch-screen phone," said Hannu Rauhala, an analyst with Pohjola Bank.
Kai Oistamo, head of Nokia's devices business, said in July the Finnish firm was fully committed to bringing a complete portfolio of touch devices to the market, both in the high-end and low-end segments. Shares in Nokia were 3.4 per cent lower at 13.43 euros by 1005 GMT, hurt by grim outlook comments from Blackberry-vendor Research In Motion.
Source:Nokia to unveil touch-screen phone Oct 2:Sources- Telecom-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times
Smaller handset vendors -- LG Electronics, Apple and Samsung Electronics -- have rolled out numerous popular touch-screen phones over the last two years. Both sources said Nokia was set to unveil the phone, codenamed "Tube", on Oct 2.
A Nokia spokeswoman declined to comment. "The phone is extremely important. We have been waiting for the market leader to respond to iPhone for a year and a half now. There is a lot of pressure on Nokia," said Carolina Milanesi, analyst at Gartner.
Nokia said in July it would introduce its first touch-screen phone this year, and would sell it more cheaply than rival touch-screen models in order to tap into a higher-volume market. "The demand outlook in emerging markets, like India, is good for a cheaper touch-screen phone," said Hannu Rauhala, an analyst with Pohjola Bank.
Kai Oistamo, head of Nokia's devices business, said in July the Finnish firm was fully committed to bringing a complete portfolio of touch devices to the market, both in the high-end and low-end segments. Shares in Nokia were 3.4 per cent lower at 13.43 euros by 1005 GMT, hurt by grim outlook comments from Blackberry-vendor Research In Motion.
Source:Nokia to unveil touch-screen phone Oct 2:Sources- Telecom-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times