Nokia unveils 3 new Lumia models; beefs up smartphone portfolio

Aiming to regain leadership position in the country's smartphone market, Finnish handset maker Nokia today launched three new devices in its Lumia range and said it is betting big on 'experiential' marketing to attract customers.

Nokia, which had five devices in the Lumia series previously, added Windows 8-powered Lumia 920, Lumia 820 and Lumia 620 to its portfolio.

The company is aggressively looking to take on competition with these new devices. Using experiential marketing, the company will try and showcase features like image quality, apps and maps to end-users.

'The marketing of the devices will be experiential, we will talk about how they (devices) are better than others in the market and how they will continue to add more consumer experience to it.

'I think it (the new phones) is something with which we can beat competition...Its a colourful, more bold Nokia, more innovative,' Nokia India Director and Head (Smartphone Devices) Vipul Mehrotra told reporters here.

Nokia is also working with partners across the board to take the Lumia experience to add more consumers faster.

'With a range of accessories and partnerships to bring wireless charging outside the home, we are also kickstarting wireless charging into the mainstream. All this innovation adds up to one thing - it's Time to Switch,' Mehrotra said.

According to CyberMedia Research, during January-June 2012, India's total shipments of handsets stood at 102.43 million units, of which 5.50 million units were smartphones.

While Nokia was a leader in the overall market with 22.2 per cent share, in the smartphone category Samsung beat the Finnish player with 41.6 per cent share. Nokia's share in the smartphone category during the reported period was 19.2 per cent.

'We are focused on redefining the future of smart devices and continue to invest towards delivering truly compelling experiences to consumers across price points,' Nokia India Managing Director and Vice President P Balaji said.

The Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 will be available in select retail stores across key cities starting Jan 11, 2013, while the Nokia Lumia 620 will start retailing in early February, 2013.

The Lumia 920, priced at ₹ 38,199, includes PureView technology and other imaging advancements, which help capture blur-free, bright pictures and videos even in dim light.

Priced at ₹ 27,559, Nokia Lumia 820 is a mid-range smartphone with a 4.3-inch ClearBlack, super sensitive touchscreen, NFC technology and 8 MP back camera.

Nokia Lumia 620 has a 3.8-inch touchscreen, 8GB internal memory and 5MP back camera. It will be available next month.