Nokia unveils 3 new handsets

Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, unveiled three new mobile handsets on Monday intended to boost its offering of mid-range phones and lift its global market share further from 36 per cent.

While Nokia dominates the market for cheaper phones and has a wide line-up of pricier multimedia models, its weak spot in recent years has been the mid-range or 150-250 euro ($200-330) price level.

Urpo Karjalainen, Nokia's senior vice president for Asia- Pacific, said the models would take the total number of new handsets launched by the Finnish firm this year to 26.

The company usually markets 40 to 50 new models each year.

'We now see our share of the global market expanding to above the current estimate of 36 percent,' Karjalainen said in Singapore ahead of the annual telecoms fair CommunicAsia.

The new launches include a 3G music and multimedia phone, the Nokia 6267, which is expected to retail for 240 euros, excluding subsidies and taxes. A third new model, the traditional-looking 3500, is set to sell for 135 euros.

The 3G Nokia 6121 is expected to sell for 260 euros, excluding subsidies and taxes, and all three are set to hit the shelves during the next quarter.

'Nokia has not been terribly strong in the mid-range, and these might help somewhat,' said eQ Bank analyst Jari Honko. 'The new phones are good looking, they look like improved versions of older ones, but they will not change the world.'

Nokia also announced that it has agreed with Malaysia's MiTV Corporation to introduce commercial broadcast mobile TV services in the country in the second half of 2007.

Cellphone makers and operators are keen to tap the potentially lucrative market for mobile TV, but so far only a few countries have a dedicated spectrum for a mobile TV network.

(Additional reporting by Sakari Suoninen in Helsinki).