Nokia hopes to launch six to 12 new phones customized for North American carriers in 2008, versus three in 2007, as the company aims to improve its weak market share in the region, said Mark Louison, president of its North American business, on Wednesday.
Nokia leads the global cell phone market but has struggled to compete in the United States where it ranked No. 4 with an 11 percent market share in the third quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. Motorola Inc., ranked No. 3 globally, was the U.S. leader with a 33 percent share in that period.
To change this, Nokia appointed Louison to his newly created role in July and has been working on boosting the number of phones it designs in collaboration with specific U.S. carriers since the fall of 2006.
"It's not unreasonable you'd see between 6 to 12 new operator-specific devices this year. It'll probably be more than this," Louison said in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show.
"You'll see some of that in the first half of 2008, with the velocity to increase that in the second half and going full steam ahead in 2009," Louison said.