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Nokia to unveil colour screen cellphone

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CIOL Bureau
New Update

Paul de Bendern

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HELSINKI: Nokia, the world's largest handset maker, will launch two new

mobile phones on Monday including one with a big colour screen in an attempt to

match products from rivals, Swedish media reported on Friday.

Nokia declined to comment on the two models, which look like a direct

challenge to recently launched and well-received devices from arch rival Sony

Ericsson like the T68 model, which has a colour screen, and the cheaper T65.

Swedish media reported, without citing sources but displaying photos showing

the devices, that Nokia would unveil the 7650 colour-screen phone and the 5210

device, targeted at the youth market, at the Nokia Mobile Internet conference in

Barcelona on Monday.

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Nokia phone launches are important for the industry because of the Finnish

company's number-one position in handsets, with a 34 percent shares of the

global market.

Helsinki-based brokers said Nokia shares turned to positive territory in part

due to the media reports, trading 1.7 percent higher at 28.40 euros ($25.13) at

1425 GMT in firm market.

"We do not confirm nor comment on the speculations in the Swedish

media," Nokia spokesman Tapio Hedman told Reuters.

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Nokia has previously said it planned to discuss new product news at the

Barcelona conference, which runs until Wednesday.

"We have not made any new product announcements since the 5510... We do

not pre-announce phone launches," Hedman said.

The 5510, which doubles up as a music player and features a keyboard for text

typing, was unveiled last month, and that device also appeared in the media

prior to the official launch.

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The 7650, which would be Nokia's first colour display phone, has a large

screen covering most of the device with a joy stick -- like Sony Ericsson's T68

-- to navigate through the menu, according to images shown on several Swedish

Internet sites.

Underneath the cover rests a standard phone keyboard, which slides out from

underneath for use. Analysts expected the phone to be priced at the higher end

of the market.

PRESSED

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Nokia has been pressed to unveil more advanced models since Sony Ericsson, a

recently formed mobile phone venture, launched the T68 in Europe and other

mobile Internet-enabled devices.

Nokia was expected to launch a colour-screen phone before the summer of 2002,

probably in the second quarter. "It is therefore possible that Nokia has

been forced to speed up the timetable due to Ericsson T68's success. We

therefore expect 7650 to be launched already during Q1, 2002," Mandatum

Stockbrokers said in a research note.

It was unclear if the two devices would run GPRS (General Packet Radio

Service) technology currently being rolled out in Europe, which offer speedy and

"always-on" Internet connection.

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But the 7650 was expected to be a challenger to devices, like Samsung's,

powered by Microsoft Stinger operating system and Internet browser, which has

not yet hit the market.

Analyst expected the 7650 to have Web-friendly Java software and multimedia

messaging service (MMS), which is seen replacing popular SMS text messaging. MMS

will allow users to send long messages, pictures and audio to other users.

Earlier this year Nokia said it would have 50 million mobile phones powered

with Java, which lets users download games and other programs from the Internet,

on the market next year. Nokia also said it planned to launch several new

products by the third quarter next year which have Java. Java-enabled handsets

and colour screens have become a huge success in Japan, the most advanced mobile

Internet country.

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