Nokia outlines plans for the future
Channel investment as important as devices

Iain Thomson, vnunet.com 25 Nov 2005

Nokia has detailed its strategy for the coming year and intends to invest heavily in its channel partners (see: Mobile Marketing Forecasts 2003-2008).

The company has set out a five-point plan, the first of which is to develop stronger channel and customer relationships.

This will include recruitment and training of more resellers with knowledge of the mobile market, and the recruitment of a small direct sales team for big name clients.

"Expanding the channel is a big area for us and we're spending on it," said Tom Farrell, director of strategy and business developments for enterprise solutions at Nokia.

"In some ways getting the right channel in place is as important as getting the right devices. We're looking to expand the channel in the UK and Europe."

The device portfolio will also be beefed up with more releases in the E Series smartphone category (see: Future Mobile Handsets & Next Generation Mobile Handsets). The company has set itself a goal of outpacing the average rate of mobile phone sales.

More and more phones will have mobile email built in (see: Mobile email: the quest for differentiation), as part of the third leg of the strategy is to get more people using mobile applications.

Other moves in this area include setting up an easy to use download portal that will enable all users to choose and install applications more easily.

The fourth key area is security. Nokia is already the number two mobile firewall vendor, and is looking to diversify its security application portfolio to offer more protection, particularly for enterprises (see: Mobile VPN Solutions).

Finally, Nokia's services will be improved with the launch of a professional services practice. The company is also set to enhance the level of services it already has for hardware and technical support.

Phone sales jump 16pc in Western Europe
Thursday, November 24 2005
by Charlie Taylor

Sales of mobile phones in Western Europe remain healthy with nearly 40 million units shipped during the third quarter of 2005, up 16 percent year-over-year.

According to IDC's Western European Quarterly Mobile Phone Market Tracker, shipments were up 5 percent sequentially to 39.5 million units. This compares to 34 million sales in the third quarter of 2004 (see: World Cellular Handset Tracker).

IDC said that the introduction of new multimedia handsets (see: Mobile TV: Broadcast and Mobile Multimedia), increased availability of Series 60 smart phones and heavy promotion of 3G services, all served to accelerate market demand during the quarter.

"Although 3Q lacked the impetus commonly provided by extensive handset launches, the widespread availability of popular feature phones such as the Motorola RAZR, Nokia 6230i, and Sony Ericsson K750i and W800 launched earlier in the year ensured substantial adoption largely through post pay contract renewals and handset upgrades with visibility assisted by extensive promotions," said Andrew Brown, program manager, European Mobile Devices at IDC (see: Future Mobile Handsets & Next Generation Mobile Handsets).

According to the research firm, mobile manufacturers are showing greater commitment to 3G in response to operator demands for handsets that meet different market segments and can deliver services with a lower terminal cost.

During the third quarter, 3G phones accounted for 12 percent of the total mobile market in Western Europe, up from 7 percent a year ago. IDC predicts that 3G shipments will account for 13 percent of the market overall for 2005.

The research company said that Series 60 smart phones such as the Nokia 6630 and 6680 have become increasingly popular with the number of converged devices shipped during the third quarter rising 105 percent year-on-year and 3 percent sequentially to reach 2.8 million units.

Although the enterprise segment was buoyed by RIM BlackBerry and HP Mobile Messenger shipments, IDC stated that overall growth remains dominated by the penetration of the Series 60 platform into the consumer space.

During the third quarter, converged devices (including smart phones and voice-enabled PDAs) represented 7 percent of the total mobile phone market in Western Europe, up 4 percent year-over-year (see: Device Convergence: Three Worlds Coming Together).

Nokia shipped a total of 14.2 million handsets in the third quarter, representing year-on-year growth of 20 percent. The Finnish manufacturer continues to dominate the mobile market with 36 percent share.

Samsung witnessed substantial year-on-year growth, with shipments increasing by 100 percent to 6.2 million units during the third quarter to take its market share to 16 percent. Motorola also saw a sharp rise in the number of mobiles it sold. In the third quarter its market share increased 5 percentage points year-on-year to 15 percent on the back of a 71 percent rise in sales.

In volume terms, Sony Ericsson suffered from the strong market performance witnessed by Samsung and Motorola, with growth remaining largely flat at 5 percent year-on-year. The company's market share fell by 1 percent to 13 percent.

Siemens meanwhile saw shipments fall by 44 percent year-over-year with just 2.9 million sales compared to 5.2 million for the third quarter of 2004. The company's market share also fell from 15 percent to 7 percent.

Significant Growth Potential of Mobile Video in Europe
3rd Nov 2005

Europe : Qpass, whose software powers the marketplace for digital media and services, has identified mobile video downloads as a significant growth area in Europe. Mobile video downloads through Qpass software accounted for only 1 per cent of total mobile content downloads in March 2005, but this figure has surged to 5 per cent at the end of September 2005, representing a 55 percent increase in retail value growth over the last 6 months (see: Mobile Content - End User Opinion).

Mobile video is set to take the European wireless industry by storm during the next 12 months with video and camera enabled handsets predicted to outsell non-video handsets for the first time in 2006 (Provided by The Gartner Group). Moreover, media brands such as CNN, MTV Networks Music, Warner Brothers and sky have been quick to embrace mobile video as an exciting new channel for delivering exclusive video content and live broadcasts.

Qpass notes that the trend for mobile video downloads is being driven by five key content areas of music videos, comedy sketches, sports clips, TV and movie videos, and adult content. Ringtones remain the highest-selling content in Europe with more than 50 per of the market share of the overall retail value of mobile content. (See: Mobile content - music, gambling, games, adult, sport, The Dynamics of Games).

?The last six months have seen the momentum of mobile video significantly increase across the whole value chain as the market moves to embrace this exciting evolution in mobile data,? said Christian Lutz, General Manager, Qpass Europe. "With Qpass? end-to-end solution for managing premium services, media brands can rapidly rollout video services and capitalise on the growth of this nascent market."

ARVATO MOBILE AND O2 FORM MOBILE GAMING ALLIANCE
24-11-2005 16:16

HAMBURG, Germany, November 24 PRNewswire

Innovative Platform Offers Maximum Levels of User-Friendliness, New Payment Methods and Multiplayer Gaming (see: Mobile Application Platforms and Operating Systems)

arvato mobile and O2 Germany have announced the launch of an innovative mobile gaming platform solution that features new sales, billing and customer loyalty functions. The new platform was developed specially for the "O2 Active" mobile phone portal and is based on arvato mobile's EP2 entertainment platform.

The new O2 games platform, which was launched on Nov 21st, represents a significant leap forward when compared to previously available solutions. The platform centres around content promotion, customer loyalty and multiplayer gaming, and allows users to interact in a personalised environment, as well as to view their purchasing history and manage their downloads. In addition, the company plans to implement innovative in-gaming billing methods in time for CeBit 2006. Thanks to the new platform, O2 customers are now able to activate additional gaming levels, and use interactive multiplayer games, as well as free demo versions that allow for activation of the full-featured version during gameplay itself.

The O2 platform features abundant community features such as various discussion forums, a gaming magazine, regular contests, user voting, and point-based competitions and ranking lists. There are also numerous opportunities for user interaction, and these features are being expanded on an ongoing basis. As arvato mobile B2B vice president Arne Wolter explained, "Our goal is to make the new O2 games platform a reference solution in the rapidly expanding mobile gaming market. We also aim to achieve strong customer loyalty through the intelligent community features offered by our platform such as multiplayer gaming. This is also a key driver of sales growth."

About arvato mobile

As the leading mobile entertainment provider in Europe arvato mobile, a subsidiary of arvato Bertelsmann AG, develops mobile solutions for network operators, media companies and internet portals and offers its customers complete content, category and royalty management. The technical basis for this is provided by Entertainment Platform 2 (EP2), a unique combination of content management software, portal solution and handset-specific distribution module. arvato mobile works very closely with the music industry as well as rights holders in the film, TV and games industries. The network of partners meanwhile spans the globe, covering 47 countries on five continents. arvato mobile also runs the www.handy.de internet portal. It provides end users with access to content such as logos, ring tones, themes, videos and video ring tones as well as a large selection of handsets, accessories and mobile phone contracts. With more than 5 million registered users and 660,000 unique users per month, handy.de is one of the leading mobile entertainment portals in Germany (AGOF internet facts 2005-I). For further information, please visit: www.arvato-mobile.de

About O2

O2 plc subsidiary O2 (Germany) GmbH & Co. OHG offers its postpaid and prepaid customers virtually seamless GSM coverage in Germany thanks to the company's proprietary mobile phone network and a roaming alliance with T-Mobile. O2 is also a provider of innovative GPRS and UMTS based mobile data solutions. The company has 24.6 million customers in Great Britain, Ireland and Germany.

Last Updated: 25th Nov 2005