Nokia CEO Says He's 'Paranoid' About the Competition

LONDON (Dow Jones) -- Nokia is paying extremely close attention to what BlackBerry maker Research in Motion and iPhone parent Apple, are doing, Chief Executive Olli Pekka Kallasvuo said on Thursday.

"I'm paranoid about all the competition," he said in a conference call after the world's largest maker of mobile phones posted an 85% jump in third-quarter profit.

Although Nokia gained market share in the quarter, Kallasvuo said he saw an increase in competition, not so much from traditional phone makers but from competitors with different business models such as Research in Motion and Apple .

As a consequence, he said Nokia plans to spend more on research and development in areas where it thinks it can meet or beat these new competitors.

In recent quarters Research in Motion has developed new BlackBerry models such as the Pearl, which is targeted at the consumer market, as it seeks to expand its foothold.

Apple last June launched the iPhone in the U.S. to great fanfare. Although Chief Executive Steve Jobs has said he plans to sell only about 10 million iPhones in 2008, which represents roughly 1% of the global market, Nokia said the significance of its entry into the phone business cannot be underestimated.

The iPhone is a phone, a digital music player and a Web browser packed into a single device.

Kallasvuo's remarks gave an idea of where Nokia intends to focus its efforts.

He said, for instance, that he sees no reason why email should be limited to business users, suggesting that the Finnish vendor is keen to drive email usage among consumers.

In order to better compete with its U.S. rivals, Nokia is also trying to improve its distribution network in North America, where a vendor's relationship with operators is crucial, and where Nokia has traditionally been weaker.

He said Nokia ran an advertising campaign to promote the launch of its N95 smart phone in California and New York, and is testing different distribution channels.

He said, however, that these efforts would take a while to filter through to the bottom line.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 18th October 2007