Nokia’s CFO Rick Simonson told cable network CNBC on Friday that he expects sales volume of the company’s 3G mobile phones to double in 2006. The new generation of phones, which offer video and music features enabled by broadband wireless services, are expected to grow in popularity, particularly in the United States, as mobile broadband availability expands to more areas and add-on services featuring video and music become more available and affordable.
During the third quarter of 2005, the Nokia 6680 became the top-selling 3G phone in the world, and Nokia has remained the world’s top 3G phone maker. Nokia estimates 2005 sales from all handset makers will top 750 million units worldwide; Nokia itself is on target to ship roughly 20 million mobile phones for the year. Simonson stood behind Nokia’s forecast for overall handset sales volume to increase by 10 percent during 2006, with volume of all handset makers “approaching 900 million plus units next year.”
According to Ireland’s Research and Markets, more than 50 million mobile phone subscribers were using 3G services by mid-2005, and price pressures are beginning to impact manufacturers even as they race to bundle more features and technologies into handsets (cameras, WiFi, GPS, MPEG-4 video, Bluetooth, and more) to support revenue generating 3G data services offered by network operators.
