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okia has globally introduced two affordable devices from Indonesia again, saying that the lower segment of the mobile phone market remains promising, despite increasing competition amid the smartphone boom.

The Finnish mobile phone maker launched the low-end Nokia Asha 205 smartphone and Nokia 206 feature phone in Jakarta, on Monday. The global launch comes after a similar event for another product in September.

Martin Chirotarrab, country manager for Nokia Indonesia, said that Indonesia was Nokia’s largest market in the Asia Pacific region after China, and hence, was part of the firm’s top 10 markets worldwide.

According to Chirotarrab, out of the 7 billion people in the world, only 4 billion had mobile phones, with less than 1.5 billion owning smartphones. The mobile phone market in Indonesia, an emerging economy, mirrors these global
statistics.

A study conducted by the International Data Company (IDC) said that 87.3 percent of the 15.5 million mobile phones shipped to Indonesia in the third quarter were feature phones. Yet, the smartphone segment exhibited stellar growth, increasing shipments 29 percent from the second to third quarters.

Chirotarrab added that the release of the new phones was part of Nokia’s strategy to keep a stronghold in the feature phone and affordable smartphone markets.

Nokia has made pricing a part of their market strategy.

Chirotarrab noted that in the smartphone segment, the Asha series was their “most affordable” smartphone.

“These devices are priced less than Rp 1 million,” he said, adding that Nokia offers around 12 products under the Asha series in Indonesia.

The expected retail price for the new Nokia Asha 205 is approximately Rp 599,000 (US$62.20), and will be available in the market in December.

Meanwhile, the latest feature phone, the Nokia 206, is expected to retail for Rp 600,000 and will hit the market in January.

Local brands have been entering the feature phone segment by offering low-cost mobile phones that especially target second- and third-tier cities.

However, Chirotarrab said that Nokia remained a “top player” in those cities, owing to solid distribution networks in 31 cities across the nation.

Besides continuing to compete in the feature phone and affordable smartphone segment, Nokia will push the Lumia, Nokia’s upper-end smartphone running on the Windows platform.

The Android operating system, adopted by multiple device manufacturers, dominates 64 percent of the Indonesian operating system market.

“We have launched our Windows 8 smartphone in very specific markets, and the response has been positive. You will hear news about Indonesia very soon,” he said.