Consider this: Nokia sells a phone somewhere on this planet every 18 seconds and has 9,200 applications written for its phones. However, the smartphone segment, in which Apple will be competing, is estimated to be less than 5 per cent of the total handset market and is dominated by Nokia globally and in India too.
While last year, around 97 million handsets were sold, the smartphone segment accounted for around 5 million handsets, according to Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst, Gartner.
This year the figure is expected to rise to around 7 million. In the Asia-Pacific region, Nokia has a slightly over 82 per cent of the market share in the smartphone category. It's estimated that the India figures hover around this number. The other competitors are way below: Research in Motion (Blackberry), HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola and Ericsson.
Various estimates peg the iPhone pricing between Rs 31,000 (for 8 GB) and Rs 36,000 (for 16 GB). Reports also suggest that the iPhone may not be subsidised by Indian carriers as done in the United States. Analysts note that the change in Apple's business model for the 3G iPhone was driven by the large grey market for iPhones.
Image: Two women stand in front of the Nokia flagship store in Helsinki. | Photograph: Antti Aimo-Koivisto/AFP/Getty Images.
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