Nokia Launches Asha 300, Collaborates With Fellow Finns Rovio

At the Kempinski Ballroom in Jakarta yesterday, Nokia (HEL:NOK1V; NYSE:NOK) launched its new addition to the Asha line with the new Asha 300, together with Angry Birds creator Rovio.

Asha means ‘hope’ in Hindi, and this handset follows its predecessors the Asha 303, 200, and 201. With this new phone, Nokia has blurred the lines between feature phone and smartphone, with smartphone features that can be used on the cheaper mobile phones like the Asha series.

The Asha 300, which is priced at just IDR 999,000 (US$ 110), boasts fast internet connections over 3G HSPA, and is powered by a 1GHz processor. It has a touch interface with a keymat and a 5 megapixel camera with video recording. It also comes with Angry Birds Lite pre-installed.

Bob McDougall, the country manager for Nokia Indonesia, noted that there are over 3000 local apps available already, and the company is working together with 50 universities and 10,000 developers around the country. A success story from a local developer is Ramadhan Bachtiar, whose app reached 22 millions downloads globally, and with Nokia-integrated operator billing he could fund his own start-up and be independent.

Although Nokia claims that it still has 30 percent marketshare over all the mobile phones in the world (it was 27 percent at the end of Q3), it is declining and with pressure from all directions. On the lower end of the market in Indonesia they are fighting Android handsets and cheaper phones manufactured in China. If Nokia really puts its focus on the right segment of the market, I think it can still survive the mobile wars.