After restructuring its local operations last year, cellular handset manufacturer, Nokia, says it has established a ?proper office" in South Africa to service the growing market for cellular users in the rest of Africa.
Says Nokia senior marketing manager for customer and market operations in Africa, Mika Niemi: "We are reconfirming our commitment to business in Africa, and we believe that the Africa region is currently the most critical, exciting and promising emerging cellular market."
Niemi adds that the company"s attention will also heavily fall on the emerging markets in West and central Africa, where it believes the greatest growth opportunities lie in terms of selling entry-level phones.
"We have recently appointed people who are dedicated to the West and central African region, and will be operating out of our (South African) office," he says. Depending on the maturity of the markets in the future, the company intends to expand its presence and footprint into the African region on a more localized level.
Unable to give exact figures on the African region"s market share contribution to overall Nokia revenues, Niemi says it is a substantial amount, adding that Africa is a ?big player" in EMEA.
Niemi, however, also says that cheap imports and grey products from other regions, like Asia and the Middle East, are a damaging concern, posing major difficulties in growing business in Africa, and making it a complicated market to play in.
He adds: "For the entry-level phone market in Africa, the price of handsets remains an issue." However, in the same breath, he says the price issue is not as big as people think it is.
Conceding that the continent has a varied and segmented user base, ranging from first-time handset buyers to advanced business users, Niemi says Nokia is suited and positioned to provide for the needs of all customers.
He also notes that cellular phones are not just communication tools any more, but form an important part of an individual"s lifestyle. This, he says, includes the growing demand of youth culture for music and fashion to be incorporated into handsets. In the future, music will be a key feature for Nokia mobile phones, and consumption of music is huge amongst its target audience, the company says.
For this reason, the company is incorporating the issue of fashion and trendy styles into the design and functionality of its handsets. Apart from addressing business usage needs of handsets the company will be looking more closely at addressing ?lifestyle" issues of phones in future, but, Niemi clarifies: "Our strategy is to provide all products for all markets".