Despite a bustling mobile handset market in the country, top Indian phone-brand Nokia failed to grow its revenues during the last financial year, according to the Voice & Data survey of the telecom market for 2010-11.
However, number two in the mobile handset market — Samsung — managed to see its revenues grow by a solid 22% taking it to Rs 5,720 crore ($127 million.)
In comparison, Nokia had revenues of Rs 12,929 crore ($287 million) in the year ended March 2011, more or less unchanged from Rs 12,900 crore that it clocked in 2009-10.
The numbers revealed by the Voice and Data survey (V&D 100) are not officially confirmed by the respective companies, but are estimated based on reports from the distributors, business partners etc..
Nokia’s stagnant revenues are the result of a paralysis of sorts that has struck the company for the last two years. The firm has consistently failed to excite consumers by bringing out new and advanced models of phones, especially by failing to ride the media-oriented, big-screen touch-phone phenomenon.
Instead, the Finnish firm has found itself more and more restricted to the extreme low end of the market where it holds an unassailable market share of around 65% or more, according to estimates.
The numbers also reveal that Nokia now has just around 35% of the Indian handset market — expected to be around Rs 35,000-40,000 crore.
Samsung, and its smaller cousin LG, managed to grow slightly faster than the market due to an aggressive expansion of their product portfolio at the upper end of the market. For example, Samsung is estimated to have caught up with or even overtaken Nokia in the smartphone market in the country.
Nokia is waiting for the end of this year when it will release its new line-up of smartphones based on Windows Mobile platform — possibly its last shot at remaining relevant in the high end of the market.
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