Nokia Betting on $20 Handset as It Loses Ground to Apple and Samsung

While Apple and Samsung have added larger screens and many more features Nokia has been losing ground. They believe that there is a market out there for a simple, cheap phone.

Priced 97 percent below the latest iPhone, the Nokia 105 features preloaded games, a color screen, a radio, a speaking clock and a flashlight. The phone, Nokia’s cheapest ever, has been available for a few weeks in India and Indonesia and will soon start selling in Europe.

Basic handsets still make up for half of the handsets sold and Nokia wants to be the cheapest. They claim that at only $20 that it would be profitable but didn’t explain further.



For those who didn’t know Nokia had more than half of the mobile handset market before Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007. Nokia shares have fallen more than 80 percent since then, while Samsung has risen 154 percent and Apple has quadrupled. After five consecutive annual losses, Nokia is down 14 percent this year through April 26.