Veteran mobile phone brand Nokia is offering a series of smartphones in Israel with a clean version of the Android operating systems. Prices for the phones are relatively low, starting at NIS 700 for the basic model and NIS 2,000 for the featured device. The phones will arrive in Israel next week. A comparison by "Globes" shows that the prices in Israel are similar to those charged by Nokia in Europe.
The Nokia brand, produced by Finnish manufacturer HMD Global, includes four devices in the first stage: Nokia 3, Nokia 5, Nokia 6, and the featured Nokia 8. Eurocom Group, which is marketing the brand in Israel, says the Nokia 8 will compete with those made by Apple, Samsung, and LG, while being cheaper than those brands.
This is not Nokia's first comeback. Last August, the Nokia 3310 device was launched in Israel with a NIS 250 price tag (it even included the legendary "Snake" game). It was catalogued as a "feature phone," meaning a basic phone designed for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) consumers, children, etc. Nokia is now offering smartphones for the first time.
The three simpler models in the series are competing in the category of phones priced at less than NIS 1,000, which includes brands like Xiaomi and previous models by Samsung and LG. The Nokia 8 will also compete with Huawei OnePlus, Meizu, and other phones.
Eurocom said today that it plans to market the future models of the brand (including the Nokia 9, which has already been unveiled). The company added that it hoped that all the devices would achieve a 10% market share within a year.
Eurocom CEO Moti Arbel said, "From the last 1990s until 2012, the Nokia brand was a global leader, and had a 60% share of the mobile phone market in Israel at its peak." The manufacturer is offering a three-year guarantee for the devices as part of the launch.
The Nokia brand has been through ups and downs over the years. In 2016, Microsoft sold the Nokia brand to HMD Global in a deal estimated at $350 million. The purchaser announced it would reestablish the Finnish brand in the smartphone market.
The most interesting of the four Nokia brands is the Nokia 8. It has advanced photography capabilities, including a dual sight mode that makes it possible to take still photographs with the front and rear cameras simultaneously, similar to other devices. The term "bothie" was invented for this feature, meaning that photographs from the front and rear cameras are combined into a single image.
This model has a 5.3-inch screen with QHD resolution, and includes technology for 360-degree recording using three microphones, two rear cameras, and a front camera. The Nokia 8 has a Qualcomm processor with a four-gigabyte operating memory and 64 gigabytes of internal storage. The memory can be expanded to 256 gigabytes with a memory card. The Nokia 8 supports 4G (LTE) and is offered in bright blue.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on November 14, 2017
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