On the competition from the likes of the iPhone and BlackBerry at one end and the low-cost Chinese handsets on the other, Mr Shivakumar said Nokia's three-pronged strategy was working in the market. He said, “The strategy we announced in February 2011, collaborating with Microsoft, has proved to be disruptive — the competition has had to re-evaluate its positioning.”
Referring to the Indian market, he said the four dual-SIM handsets launched by Nokia at the entry level have “more than met expectations”.
He also claimed that Chinese handsets are being shed by consumers after being tried once. In the mid-segment, Nokia launched the improved Symbian Anna operating system, and has now unveiled the Symbian Belle.
Mr Shivakumar added, “At the top end, we will launch the Nokia Windows phone early next year. It will be far better than the BlackBerry ever. We're not saying that — the Indian consumers are saying that.” He was referring to testing among groups of consumers over the last two to three months in India. The Windows phone will be priced upwards of Rs 20,000.