Yahoo – AFP,
February 26, 2017
|
HMD global CEO Arto Nummela presents his company's new phone "Nokia 3310" during a press conference on February 26, 2017 on the eve of the start of the Mobile World Congress |
Finnish
brand Nokia, a former mobile star, on Sunday launched three new Android
smartphones and unveiled a revamped version of its iconic 3310 model more than
a decade after it was phased out.
Unlike the
original, which was known for its sturdiness, the new Nokia 3310 will allow web
browsing.
The new
version will bring back its predecessor's popular "Snake" game and
distinctive ringtones, said Arto Nummela, the head of Finnish start-up HMD
Global which will produce the phone under a licensing agreement with Nokia.
"The
telephone will allow you to talk for 22 hours, ten times more than the
original," he said during a presentation in Barcelona on the eve of the
start of the Mobile World Congress, the world's biggest mobile phone show.
Launched in
2000, Nokia's original 3310 sold nearly 120 million units worldwide before it
was discontinued in 2005, making it one of the world's best-selling mobile
phones.
Analysts
said resurrecting the popular model was a clever way for HMD Global to relaunch
Nokia's brand.
"HMD
launched three new smartphones and an iconic mobile. It is a way to create a
halo effect around the other models by reviving talk about the Nokia
brand," said Thomas Husson, a mobile analyst at Forrester.
In addition
to the new 3310, HMD presented three new smartphones, the Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and
Nokia 6 which will sell for different prices.
The Nokia 6
was already available in China and will now go on sale globally.
"We
think (Nokia) could take 5 percent of the global smartphone market by the end
of 2019. But it needs to get big quick or it won't work," said CCS
Insight's device specialist and chief of research, Ben Wood.
Nokia was
the world's top mobile maker between 1998 and 2011 but was overtaken by South
Korean rival Samsung after failing to respond to the rapid rise of smartphones.
Its
telephone brand remains widely recognised, especially in developing markets.
Now a
leading telecom equipment maker, Nokia sold its entire handset business to
Microsoft Corp in 2014.
Last year
HMD bought Microsoft Mobile's handset business and the right to use the Nokia
brand.
Under the
agreement, Nokia will receive royalty payments from HMD for sales of every
Nokia branded mobile phone or tablet.
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