HMD Global, the Finnish startup maker of Nokia smartphones, aims to reach the top five in the Asean smartphone market after only competing in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam for two-and-a-half years.
"Nokia has been able to rank among the top five smartphone vendors for at least 30 markets globally, but not in Asean, other than Vietnam," said Pekka Rantala, executive vice-president and marketing chief for HMD Global.
The company will move from its retro design style to a more innovative one to attract younger customers, as millennials are major buyers. Two-thirds of Nokia's buyers are younger than 35.
Mr Rantala acknowledged fierce competition from Asian smartphone makers, but said he is confident the brand, which is over 150 years old, has authentic, durable and simple innovations that are an advantage for HMD.
Nokia has sold 6 billion units globally since the brand's debut.
However, in just over two years under HMD management, the company became the No.1 feature phone in 2018. Nokia sold 70 million smartphones and feature phones in 2017.
He said feature phones still have a future as there are 1 billion users of such phones and 400 million units are sold each year.
As a startup, HMD will continue to use digital and mobile-first communication to tap into the youth market.
In addition, it will communicate regarding the more unique points of Google's Android One as well as remain in close partnership on software and hardware design.
Nokia uses the Pure Android operating system and allows users to update the latest Android and security patch twice as fast as rivals.
"We let our customers use their Nokia phones for at least three years rather than forcing them to buy a replacement phone every 18 months," said Mr Rantala.
Shifting to future innovation, it introduced Nokia 9 PureView, a five-lens camera smartphone, the first in the industry, which targets semi-professional and photogenic users.
Tanadet Chuangkeavisedd, head of marketing in Thailand for HMD Global, said this year Thailand's smartphone market will see low single-digit growth with 19 million units, and 2 million feature phones.
Nokia will shift to more mid- to high-end smartphones in the 5,000-12,000 baht price range as these groups constitute over 50% of the local smartphone market.
Previously, the company focused on entry level and first-time smartphones and feature phones.
"We believe innovation and refreshed smartphone models will attract more buyers," said Mr Tanadet.
