'Nokia is committed to bringing cellular technology to another billion people,' Head of Mobile Phones Business Unit-Middle East & Africa

Calin Turcanuis has been the Head of Mobile Phones Business Unit, Nokia India, Middle East, Africa and oversees sales since August 2011. He is actively involved in developing business strategies to ensure market success of key Nokia devices and strengthen Nokia's brand presence in the region at the same time.
He previously worked as the Director of Smartphone Solutions Marketing. He has more than 15 years of wireless and internet business experience in diverse markets. Majoring in Economics and eBusiness, Calin did his MBA from Helsinki University of Applied Sciences in 2003. He also studied M Sc .in Computer Science from University Politehnica Bucharest in 1997.
The Head of Nokia's mobile phones business unit, MENA, recently sat for an exclusive interview with BR Research. The following transcript consists of selected excerpts from this meeting.
BR Research: When you compare Pakistan to other markets, what is the nature of opportunities and challenges that Nokia is confronted with?
Calin Turcanuis: Globally, Nokia is actively pursuing a policy of connecting the next billion. As is apparent from that phrase, we want to equip with cellular phones, those segments that have so far remained excluded from the use of such technologies.
When we consider our strategy of connecting the next billion on a global scale, what we have found is that there are many similarities among the members of our target segments. One part of our strategy entails reaching out to the maximum number of people in the world with our product offerings.
Out of 3.2 billion people, there are about 1.2 billion who have cellular phones that are not data enabled. In fact there are only about 21 million smartphone users. So, one of the basic goals of our efforts is focused on how can we connect and enable the next one billion users to be able to access the internet through their phones.
Then you have over 4 billion people who do not use cellular phones at all at the moment, so getting them connected is another challenge, especially considering the fact that these people are in fact dispersed all over the world although the concentration of potential users is higher in the growing economies.
We see very similar consumer behaviour among regions where these potential users are located, whether it is in the south of Germany, here in Pakistan or in other parts of the world. All over there are people who are starting to realise the potential benefits of being able to connect to the internet through cellular phones and what that could mean in terms of knowledge and connectivity in their lives. Based on the preferences of these existing and potential users, we design all our phones.
BRR: Chinese products have posed tough competition for Nokia, particularly in the local market. In your view, what is the impact of this competition? Also tell us about Nokia's prospects in Pakistan in the near future.
CT: As far as the first part of your question is concerned, I would only like to say that we are cognisant of the fact that we operate in open markets where competition is fierce. There are many other players besides Nokia. We are strongly committed to our own plans for growth. I personally feel that a comparison between the brands you have mentioned and Nokia would be unfair.
As for the future prospects, I would like to expand the horizon beyond Pakistan in my response. There are a very large number of people that have willingness and ability to use data-enabled cellular technology, but many of them have not been fully satisfied by product offerings they encounter, often due to a lack of experience and knowledge about which products would best serve their needs and wants.
We believe that there is a huge appetite among potential users to get online with their cellular phones, as well as for downloading from among a host of available applications that can help improve productivity and provide leisure to users.
Just as technology has evolved greatly in the past few years, so too has its popularity among people. Back in the day, there were very few personal computers in developing economies and internet connectivity where available was slow.
Now the situation has changed completely. People are not technology averse and particularly in the growing economies there are rapidly increasing numbers internet savvy users. These trends prove that there is huge and rising demand for mobile internet access, particularly among the emerging economies.
We rely on market intelligence greatly in making our decisions in terms of the products that we develop and markets, the features they possess and the way they are marketed. Understanding the needs and preferences of existing and potential customers is at the heart of our strategy; it is a very consumer driven exercise.
BRR: What are some of the key foci for Nokia when introducing new products or going into new markets?
CT: The need for mobile phone technology is felt across all regions and segments of population. Another important determinant is the purchasing power of the target segment. Based on this, we prioritise those markets where we feel that there is opportunity to not just establish a presence but also to be able to grow in the future.
As I mentioned earlier, it is also important to be able to market the products effectively so that people know about all the features that are available in the different products and are able to use them effectively. Unless consumers are informed about the key product differentiators, they cannot be effective in helping to differentiate the overall product in the minds of consumers.
We have made some significant strides in terms of making internet accessibility affordable for consumers and to make internet browsers that are easy to use. Given our ability to compress data up to ninety percent, we have made data transfer relatively cheap, and using cloud computing technologies we are able to provide faster internet access even on relatively slow connection speeds.
Although preferences differ between various markets, design is generally a very important feature of any product offering. Regardless of the price range, consumers want craftsmanship, quality materials and sophisticated design.