The Finland firm’s new smartphone software line, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7, will include Middle East-specific content in a bid to grow its regional marketshare, said Stephen Elop.
“Regions that have the opportunity for disproportionate growth attract disproportionate amounts of spending in order to support those regions and the Middle East is a good example of that,” said Elop, who declined to specify how much would be spent.
“It [the Middle East] is a critically important region,” he said in an interview in Dubai.
The move is designed to slash its R&D costs and boost its customer base as Nokia struggles to compete with Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android software.
“There is a real opportunity here that we think Nokia can participate in quite substantially,” said Elop. “There are announcements ahead about specific service capabilities that are being introduced uniquely for this region,” he said in reference to Microsoft’s software.
Nokia has an estimated 60 percent share of the mobile handset market in the Middle East and Africa.
“If you look at the Middle East and Africa we have some wonderfully positive examples of [providing local content], for example, the applications we contributed to… in Ramadan,” Elop said.
“At the same time there are some great examples where we are not as far along as I would like.Elements of our services that aren’t in Arabic for example and clearly given the opportunity, given our overall mission, these are things we will address.”
Elop was appointed in September to turn the mobile phone maker around. The company saw net income, excluding one-time items, decline 7.9 percent to €2.26bn last year, according to Bloomberg. The firm’s stock fell 13 percent in 2010, the majority before Elop’s appointment.
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