Products

• Technology news: Nokia N97 takes on rivals with touch-screen, social location features

  
  03 December 2008
  
  

  Intelligent design ... the N97 is a smart phone, but some analysts wonder if it's the smartest move for Nokia
  NOKIA has unveiled the N97, a high-end iPhone competitor, although analysts say the device alone is not enough to help recover lost market share.

  The new Nokia N97 handset comes with a large touch screen, will retail for 550 euros ($1089) before taxes and subsidies and is due to reach the international market by the end of June next year.

  It has promised to introduce touch-screen models across its portfolio. Nokia was the last major handset maker to introduce touch-screen phones after the runaway success of Apple's iPhone, and last month started to sell its first such model.

  Nokia's announcement claimed the N97 "carves a new space in the otherwise blurred realm between smartphone and laptop", but its features are quite similar to other leading smartphones — handsets with computer-like features such as email.

  The new N97 features a touchscreen, slide-out keyboard, up to 45GB storage, 5MP camera, location-based services that feed into social networks, software running on Nokia's S60 platform and live updates to widgets on the home screen.

  It is also a direct rival to Sony Ericsson's X1 and HTC's Touch Pro — both of which use Microsoft's Windows software and are in shops already — and analysts said by the time it goes on sale more direct rivals will likely have appeared.

  "It might give Nokia a little edge, but it's six months until this reaches the market," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

  CCS Insight's Research Director, Ben Wood, said Nokia had faced difficult choices with the N97.

  "It tried to cram in lots of different technologies such as a touch screen, full qwerty keyboard and plenty of memory, but it had to make trade-offs in its size and features," he said.

  "It has ended up with a relatively thick device that lacks some of the benchmark features expected in flagship products in mid-2009," he said.

  Nokia continues to lead the global market for smartphones but it has lost significant share to Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry, worrying investors and analysts as this is expected to weigh on the Finnish group's profit margins.

  All vendors are after a bigger slice of the smartphone market, which is set to continue growing next year despite gloom in the wider handset market.

  "Without a doubt Nokia needed a high-end touch-screen phone," said Martti Larjo, analyst at Nordea.

   

  (news.com.au)