The world's largest cellphone maker Nokia has embarked on a cost-saving programme worth 700 million euro as it expects the global mobile devices market to contract 10 per cent this year in the wake of the economic slowdown.
"There is certainly an impact of global economic slowdown. The mobile device market is not insulated to the global economic changes," Nokia's Executive Vice-President (Marketing) Anssi Van Joki told PTI on the sidelines of the World Mobile Congress here.
Noting that Nokia anticipates the global market for mobile devices to shrink 10 per cent in 2009, Joki said that accordingly, the company has decided to optimise its capacity in manufacturing facilities worldwide.
"In the last 20 years, this is only the third time when contraction is expected to take place, the last being in 2001," he added.
Joki pointed out that the company has started a global operational cost-saving programme, targeted to save 700 million euros this year.
Last week, the company announced that a Finland-based manufacturing plant would run at reduced capacity.
"Our aim is to maintain our market share, which is hovering around 40 per cent with a plus and minus margin of two per cent," Joki said.
In 2008, Nokia had shipped 468 million mobile devices with a market share of 38 per cent in the total market size of 1.2 billion units.
At the World Mobile Congress, the Finnish company has launched two new email-enabled handsets.
The handsets -- E65 and E75 -- are priced at 265 and 365 euros, respectively. They would hit the market next month.
Commenting on the new launches, Nokia's President and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said that in the current economic climate, every one is taking a closer look at the cost and benefits of technology.
"The devices and services announced today reflect Nokia's approach to delivering solutions that have a big impact at an affordable price, without the need to compromise and cut corners," he noted.
Kallasvuo added that these solutions would make it easier "for people to find and prioritise the things that really matter to them in their personal and professional lives through new applications, improved mobile navigation and one-the-move email access".
