Nokia to revive CDMA focus

If you have a CDMA handset that's running low on battery, chances are that you'd keep hunting for another CDMA handset owner who can lend you his charger. Why that, even accessories for all the GSM models can't be shared, currently.

Telecom major Nokia, maker of GSM as well as CDMA handsets and technology, plans to change that soon. Put simply, in the next year or so, Nokia handsets - whether GSM or CDMA "" will share the same accessories. What's more, your Nokia phone charger could as well fit in plug points in cars and homes.

This initiative from Nokia, currently in the development phase, is an effort on the company's part to differentiate itself against competition. While Nokia has been leading in the GSM handset with an over 80 per cent market share (estimates) in the GSM market, Korean chaebols LG and Samsung have a lead over the Finnish giant.

This year, however, Nokia has activated a fresh focus on the CDMA market. It will be launching six new models in the third and fourth quarter of this fiscal (Jan-Dec year).

"We're planning to grow the CDMA market in the next one year," announced

Timo Ihamuota, senior vice president, CDMA Business Unit, Mobile Phones. And this initiative is clearly a step in this direction. If this initiative materializes, it will surely prove to be a differentiator against the competition for Nokia in the Indian market.

It will work in creating a pull factor for Nokia phones. Both LG and Samsung have been stronger on the push factor, by being the faster ones to tie up with CDMA cellular service providers like Tata Indicom and Reliance.

Nokia should not have a problem in developing the same accessories for handsets that work on two different technologies. That's because the research and product development teams for both CDMA and GSM phones, do overlap to some extent.

(The correspondent's trip to Singapore was sponsored by Nokia)