Nokia to introduce smarter features of expensive Lumia phones in its Asha range

Nokia plans to introduce elements of its most expensive Lumia phones in its lower priced smartphones in the Asha range and bring down prices of the Windows phones, said the chief executive of the Finnish phone maker.

The company on Friday launched its newest Lumia phone 1020 for the US market. But the company is still some time away from bringing the phone to India, where it possibly sees more potential for cheaper phones than this one. The US launch price of the 1020, which has been positioned more as an incredible camera coupled with the existing smartphone, roughly translates to Rs 42,000. Apple'siPhone 5 is available at Rs 45,000.

"You will see it (1020) coming to India with a big launch event, but we are not ready to say when yet," Elop told ET, shortly after the phone was launched in New York. "Launching everywhere simultaneously with a product like this has a huge cost. We understand we are the challenger in the market."

"(In India) Sweet spot 3G devices tend to be at lower price points. What we do is take elements of this technology and make it available at a lower price points," he said referring to some of the software developed for the new Lumia phone.

Nokia, that once had leadership in mobile handset sales trails far behind Apple and Samsung in the high margin smartphone segment, and has been unsuccessfully trying to claw its way back. In the previous quarter its smartphone sales did pick up on account of more launches.

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