Nokia 2600 and 1209 do what the music industry doesn’t
Nokia has announced a couple of new low end phones for emerging markets that actively embrace the concept of sharing. In stark contrast to the music industry, which sees sharing as equivalent to terrorism, the new Nokia 2600 and Nokia 1209 are designed to be shared by up to five people.
To facilitate this, both phones come with multiple phone books (one per person), and a cost-tracker application that lets each person see how much they've spent on calls.
More details of the new Nokia 2600 and 1209 after the jump.
Although not particularly innovative in and of themselves, the 2600 (top) and 1209 (left) show how in tune Nokia is with emerging markets. According to a Nokia survey, more than 50% of respondents in India, Pakistan and nearly 30% in Vietnam indicate that they share, or would share, their mobile phone with family or friends. Hence the emphasis on sharing from the new phones.
"Phone sharing is a logical trend - more and more families are purchasing a mobile phone for the entire family to use, not just the head of the household," said Alex Lambeek, Vice President, Entry Devices, Nokia. "In addition, digital cameras are quickly becoming more popular in these markets, and as such taking and sharing digital images is becoming more common. In response, Nokia has developed a number of innovative features like the multiple phonebook to support phone sharing, and we have added technologies like Bluetooth to some models to make transferring images and ringtones easy and affordable."
The new Nokia 2600 even comes with a VGA camera, MP3 player and FM radio, but what's most impressive is the price: the Nokia 2600 will retail for just 65 Euros, while the Nokia 1209 will retail for a jaw dropping 35 Euros.
To put that in context, that's just £26 for a mobile phone - no wonder LG decided to leave the emerging market alone!
