Nokia introduces first touch device in Lanka

Working closely with Governments to mitigate gray market:

Anjana Samarasinghe in Singapore

Nokia introduced its first touch device for the mass market - Nokia 5800 XpressMusic in Sri Lanka on Monday.

The Nokia 5880 XpressMusic was launched in December. After the launch last December this product had a good response and Nokia sold over one million devices globally.

The company launched the product in Bangladesh in January and now in Sri Lanka, said Product Manager GTM Devices OPM, SEAP Michael Peh.

Nokia 5880 XpressMusic is a play, share , touch product. Nokia is targeting the younger generation through this device and it stores nearly 7,000 songs. The Company said the new device will be successful in the local market as in other markets. It is now commercially available in the Sri Lankan market.

Meanwhile, Nokia launched several new products at the Showcase Nokia 2009 which was held in Singapore on Monday.

Nokia unveiled two new additions to its Eseries range, the full QWERTY Nokia E75 and the compact QWERTY Nokia E55, which were the first to be shipped with the company's new email user interface to offer a richer messaging experience.

Nokia also introduced Nokia N86 8MP, Nokia 6710 Navigator and Nokia 6720 classic at the Showcase Nokia 2009 which was held in conjunction with the Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona.

Vice President, Southeast Asia Pacific, Nokia Chris Carr said they have identified five key areas maps, music, games, messaging and media.

The E75 is equipped with the Nokia messaging which gives the best email experience for users and this will be made available in March.

The Nokia E55 compact messaging deviser will be available in the market in the second quarter this year.

The Nokia 6720 classic which is designed to talk will also be available in the second quarter this year.

The Company will make available the Nokia N86 8MP in the second quarter of 2009, he said.

Head of Marketing Southeast Asia Pacific Nokia Loren Shuster said that the Company does not have to change its strategies due to the global economic crisis since it has been positioned strongly with the correct strategies.

Our strategy is to approach people and make them enable, he said.

Talking about the gray market in emerging markets, he said Nokia is working closely with the Governments to mitigate the gray market and educate customers more on the issue.

"We will also enhance customer care service to combat the gray market in emerging markets," he said.