[Nokia CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, speaking at the Nokia World 2006 conference predicted the Internet would be the next driving force in the mobile communications market and Nokia wants to "be the company that truly merges the Internet and mobility."]

The Netherlands -- Nokia today outlined its vision for the future of the mobility industry, predicting that the internet would become the key driving force in a market it expects to reach 4 billion global subscriptions during 2010. The comments were made in a speech by Nokia CEO and President, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, to more than 2,000 people from the mobile and internet industries attending the Nokia World 2006 conference.

"Mobile communications is once again changing even faster than many of us have predicted, and we are still far away from this being a mature market." said Kallasvuo. "The internet has transformed the way we live our lives and communicate with each other, and we expect it to play a key role in the next phase of Nokia's growth. The next wave of the internet will be to make it truly mobile, creating new ways for people to connect to others and find information from wherever they are. Nokia intends to be at the forefront of this new era and be the company that truly merges the internet and mobility."

At the two-day event, Nokia said growth in the mobility industry was accelerating faster than predicted earlier, and that it now expected the industry to reach the milestone of 3 billion mobile subscriptions globally in 2007. Nokia also gave its new forecast of 4 billion global mobile subscriptions during 2010.

Music, mobile TV and navigation services will play a key role in driving this growth, both in advanced and emerging markets where in the latter increasing numbers of people are accessing the internet for the first time on their mobile rather than on a PC. Reflecting this, Nokia said it estimates that the replacement market will account for about 65 per cent of the global market this year and that this figure is expected to rise to over 80 per cent by the year 2010.

Nokia also said that it expected more than half of the growth in mobile subscribers to come from emerging markets in the Asia Pacific region, including China and India. The company said it would continue to build its leadership position in these markets with a focus on both new and replacement or updgrade sales.

At the conference, Nokia also unveiled its latest mobile phone for the emerging markets, the Nokia 2626, the company's first entry level fashion phone. Leading a new trend in emerging markets, the Nokia 2626 is targeted at style-conscious consumers, offering a mirrored colour screen, a range of color covers and fashionable accessories, as well as an FM radio, GPRS and even email.

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