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Published on February 13, 2008

Chris Carr, head of Nokia sales in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, yesterday said as part of the move, Nokia had already acquired a number of businesses, including social-network websites, maps, music and mobile advertising.

"We'll definitely take time to see revenue from the Internet services, but we see more growth in the market as we are coming with more solutions," Carr said on the sidelines of the Nokia showcase in Sydney, Australia. The two-day event, which started on Monday, was held in conjunction with Nokia's press conference at the Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona, Spain.

In the traditional mobile-phone market, Nokia has enjoyed the largest market share, but in Internet services it needs time to grow, Carr

said.

Nokia estimates that in 2010, the market opportunity for Internet-based services and contents - video and television, digital imaging, messaging and gaming - will be about ¤100 billion (Bt4.77 trillion).

Nokia recently launched an online music store in the UK with more than two million tracks, where people can buy the music via mobile devices or personal computers. It will launch music stores in more countries this year, with content localised from country to country.

Yoong Leong-yan is head of music, television, video go-to-market services and software for Nokia's Southeast Asian/Pacific cluster. He said that since the music store was launched in the UK, about 25 per cent of users downloaded the music from the stores via their Nokia devices.

When asked whether the mobile music-download model would work well in countries plagued by blatant piracy, Yoong would only say Nokia tried to offer content that would be available at all times.

"We offer valuable services for consumers who feel good and are willing to pay for them," he said. "Anyway, we like everyone to be more aware about piracy, which has affected the whole music industry, which creates good songs for people. However, we still see big opportunities in Thailand."

Nokia yesterday unveiled four new mobile-phone models: the N96, N78, 6220 Classic and 6210. All feature different location-based and multimedia features. Each supports the 850-, 900-, 1,800-, 1,900- and 2,100- megahertz spectra, which means they can serve users in countries with different frequencies.

One handset-distributor source in Thailand said Nokia sold more than 6 million handsets in Thailand last year.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation

Sydney, Australia