Nokia predicts phone market will pick up

Published on Wednesday 2 December 2009 20:35

NOKIA said yesterday it expects the global mobile phone market to grow by 10 per cent in 2010, suggesting the industry is recovering from a worldwide recession that has also hit handset sales.

However, the world's largest mobile phone maker cautioned that its own market share volume, 38 per cent, would be "flat" next year, but added that it expects the value of its market share to be up "slightly".

Nokia is targeting revenue of $3 billion (1.8bn) in 2010, with operating margins of 12-14 per cent. Nokia is increasingly providing services for users, such as music and video downloads, navigational maps and games, and said that by the end of 2011 it will have 300 million "active users of its services".

In October, Nokia reported its first quarterly loss since it became the world's biggest handset maker in 1998.