#HMD: New #Nokia (7 & 8?) devices in Q2; phones to be sold in over 80,000 outlets worldwide *UPDATED*
HMD’s Head of India gave an interesting interview for “Times of India”. Ajey Mehta said on the record that HMD plans to launch another set of feature phones and smartphones in the coming months, later narrowing it down to Q2 as the announcement time.
Mehta also repeated the three main elements of HMD phone strategy: Quality, Design and Pure Android. He explained why is HMD investing in the feature phone market – of course, because there is a big market for Nokia feature phones, and shared some interesting distribution details. Mehta said that HMD has over 400 retail partners with over 80,000 retail outlets that will be selling the new Nokia phones. We assume that’s the global number, because a similar one gave Arto Nummela, the CEO of HMD Global, when announcing the new smartphones at MWC17.
The Quote of Mehta mentioning new phones exactly goes:
We have launched 3 smartphones and 2 feature phones in the first leg. In a few months, we will launch another set of smart and feature phones. (…) We should launch our next set of phones by the end of Q2 this year.
Mehta also mentions a possible exchange program:
We are looking at various options to rope in die hard fans of Nokia such as exchanging of old phones, credit facilities etc.
This period [Q2] overlaps with the rumors we heard about an alleged Nokia 7 and Nokia 8 that should be announced in June. Even though all related stories about the 7 and 8 are rumors, Mehta gave a lot of information that HMD refused to share when asked on social media. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great for all of us to know when new Nokia devices are coming, but I personally think that HMD should act synchronized on every level in terms of public relations.
Source: Times of India
Update: We asked Nokia Mobile for a comment on Mehta’s words and here is their response:
@stipe1906 @stipe1906 Hi, we will be launching our products globally in Q2 (April – June) of 2017
— Nokia Mobile (@nokiamobile) 12. travnja 2017.
Update 2: The Times of India corrected Mehta’s statement from “We should launch our next set of phones by the end of Q2 this year.” to “We should launch our current set of phones by the end of Q2 this year.” This means Mehta retracted its initial statement or Times of India misquoted HMD’s Head of India in the original article.
