New strategy raises Nokia's market share

Nokia, the world's largest mobile handset maker, claimed that it is catching up with Motorola in
the Chinese market, reported South China Morning Post. Cohn Giles, the company's
general manacer in China, said Nokia lagged Motorola by a very thin margin and was
confident that it could overtake its rival. According to Gartner Dataquest, Nokia sold 2.1 m
handsets in China last year, giving it 16 per cent of the market, while Motorola sold 3 .4m
handsets.
Giles said that the increase in sales was the result of localisation
measures adopted
by the company in the past IS months and the provision of a
wider range of products. Nokia will launch 15 new models in China this year, compared
with fewer than five a year previously. In addition the company has changed its distribution
mix, which now includes both national and local distributors.