Nokia eyes mobile email, unveils business phone
HELSINKI (Reuters) - The world's top cellphone maker, Nokia, unveiled on Tuesday a new phone model, the Nokia E51, for corporate users and said it still expects to fast growth in the mobile e-mail market.
Nokia said the classic "candy bar" shaped phone model will be globally available later this year, and retail for 350 euros ($485), excluding subsidies and taxes.
Nokia's enterprise unit turned to profit in the last quarter after years of losses, helped by the success of its E65 phone model.
The unit has been hoping to benefit from runaway success of RIM's Blackberry models, but it said still only 2 percent of corporate e-mail accounts are mobile, similar to the situation a couple of years ago.
"We believe it will change quickly," Antti Vasara, head of device business at Nokia's enterprise unit told a news conference.
Vasara said by 2009 there should be 880 million mobile workers using either cellphones or laptops.
"Less and less people are bound to their desks while doing their work," he said.
