Kallasvuo addresses Nokia AGM, says 2010 a key ...
NOKIA / Kallasvuo addresses Nokia AGM, says 2010 a key year processed and transmitted by Hugin AS. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Nokia Corporation
Stock Exchange Release
May 6, 2010 at 15.10 (CET +1)
Helsinki, Finland - Nokia has built a solid foundation for future success, CEO
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told shareholders Thursday.
"By combining services with devices, Nokia is in a stronger position to grow and
create more value for our shareholders," Kallasvuo said. "We still have plenty
of work to do, but we have built a solid foundation. We believe in our
strategy."
Nokia's strategy is based on the vision of a future that is truly mobile.
People increasingly live their lives in ways that are free from the constraints
of place; they want to be able to access and experience the things that matter
to them, and share those experiences with others, wherever they are and whatever
they happen to be doing.
Kallasvuo said about 83 million people around the world are already registered
active users of Nokia services, which increasingly are included with the
purchase of a Nokia mobile device.
As evidence of Nokia's achievements thus far, Kallasvuo cited the following
statistics:
- The Ovi Store, which opened a year ago this month, is now averaging about 1.7
million downloads a day. There are also localized versions of the store in 18
countries, supporting 30 different languages.
- Nokia's free pedestrian and car navigation software has been downloaded more
than 10 million times since it was launched in January. The service is now
available for more than 70 countries and in more than 45 languages.
- Comes With Music, which makes millions of songs available for download at no
extra cost for up to a year with the purchase of certain Nokia devices, was
recently launched in China and India - two of the world's largest and
fastest-growing markets.
- Nokia Messaging is growing rapidly, supported by more than 70 operators
globally.
- Ovi Mail, which is targeting the billions of potential first-time e-mail users
around the world, has registered 8 million subscriptions. That's a rate of
about 1 million subscribers a month.
- Nokia Life Tools is providing people in India and Indonesia with agricultural
information, educational services and entertainment. In less than a year, it
has attracted more than 1.5 million paying subscribers, and Kallasvuo announced
the service will soon be extended to China.
Kallasvuo said the rapidly growing demand for applications, games and other
mobile content is no longer just a Western phenomenon. "It's a global trend
that plays to one of Nokia's strengths, our global presence," he said.
Kallasvuo cited the success of a Finnish company, Offscreen Technologies, which
makes a variety of mobile applications. People from virtually every country in
the world have downloaded Offscreen's apps with Nokia devices more than 25
million times.
In reviewing Nokia's performance in 2009, Kallasvuo noted that the company sold
432 million devices worldwide - more than its top three competitors combined.
2009 marked Nokia's 12th consecutive year as the world's largest manufacturer of
mobile devices.
But 2009, Kallasvuo noted, was a difficult year, due to a weak global economy.
"The recession coincided with our transformation, as well as changes in our
device portfolio. With all these factors together, it resulted in a decrease in
operating profit and earnings per share, compared with 2008. Despite the
challenging conditions, Nokia continued to maintain strict controls on costs and
has maintained a solid financial position," Kallasvuo said.
This year, Nokia is planning to introduce a new generation of devices that is
expected to help close the gap with the competition in high-end smartphones,
Kallasvuo said.
"Our approach has been to concentrate on fewer, competitive products that bring
the features of Symbian-based smartphones to more and more people around the
world. And we are well on our way to doing that."
In addition, Nokia is continuously improving the experience and value of Ovi
services that are tightly integrated with its devices, creating reasons for
people to start using them and to come back again and again.
Kallasvuo expressed optimism about the MeeGo software platform, which will be
used for Nokia's next mobile computer.
"We are working hard to reclaim leadership in high-end smartphones and mobile
computers." he said. "It is critical that we improve the customer experience
with the usability of both our devices and our services."
About Nokia
At Nokia, we are committed to connecting people. We combine advanced technology
with personalized services that enable people to stay close to what matters to
them. Every day, more than 1.2 billion people connect to one another with a
Nokia device - from mobile phones to advanced smartphones and high-performance
mobile computers. Today, Nokia is integrating its devices with innovative
services through Ovi (www.ovi.com <
http://www.ovi.com/>), including music, maps,
apps, email and more. Nokia's NAVTEQ is a leader in comprehensive digital
mapping and navigation services, while Nokia Siemens Networks provides
equipment, services and solutions for communications networks globally.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
It should be noted that certain statements herein which are not historical facts
are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those regarding:
A) the timing of the deliveries of our products and services and their
combinations; B) our ability to develop, implement and commercialize new
technologies, products and services and their combinations; C) expectations
regarding market developments and structural changes; D) expectations and
targets regarding our industry volumes, market share, prices, net sales and
margins of products and services and their combinations; E) expectations and
targets regarding our operational priorities and results of operations; F) the
outcome of pending and threatened litigation; G) expectations regarding the
successful completion of acquisitions or restructurings on a timely basis and
our ability to achieve the financial and operational targets set in connection
with any such acquisition or restructuring; and H) statements preceded by
"believe," "expect," "anticipate," "foresee," "target," "estimate," "designed,"
"plans," "will" or similar expressions. These statements are based on
management's best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently
available to it. Because they involve risks and uncertainties, actual results
may differ materially from the results that we currently expect. Factors that
could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: 1) the
competitiveness and quality of our portfolio of products and services and their
combinations; 2) our ability to timely and successfully develop or otherwise
acquire the appropriate technologies and commercialize them as new advanced
products and services and their combinations, including our ability to attract
application developers and content providers to develop applications and provide
content for use in our devices; 3) our ability to effectively, timely and
profitably adapt our business and operations to the requirements of the
converged mobile device market and the services market; 4) the intensity of
competition in the various markets where we do business and our ability to
maintain or improve our market position or respond successfully to changes in
the competitive environment; 5) the occurrence of any actual or even alleged
defects or other quality, safety or security issues in our products and services
and their combinations; 6) the development of the mobile and fixed
communications industry and general economic conditions globally and regionally;
7) our ability to successfully manage costs; 8) exchange rate fluctuations,
including, in particular, fluctuations between the euro, which is our reporting
currency, and the US dollar, the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan, as well as
certain other currencies; 9) the success, financial condition and performance of
our suppliers, collaboration partners and customers; 10) our ability to source
sufficient amounts of fully functional components, sub-assemblies, software,
applications and content without interruption and at acceptable prices and
quality; 11) our success in collaboration arrangements with third parties
relating to the development of new technologies, products and services,
including applications and content; 12) our ability to manage efficiently our
manufacturing and logistics, as well as to ensure the quality, safety, security
and timely delivery of our products and services and their combinations; 13) our
ability to manage our inventory and timely adapt our supply to meet changing
demands for our products; 14) our ability to protect the complex technologies,
which we or others develop or that we license, from claims that we have
infringed third parties' intellectual property rights, as well as our
unrestricted use on commercially acceptable terms of certain technologies in our
products and services and their combinations; 15) our ability to protect
numerous Nokia, NAVTEQ and Nokia Siemens Networks patented, standardized or
proprietary technologies from third-party infringement or actions to invalidate
the intellectual property rights of these technologies; 16) the impact of
changes in government policies, trade policies, laws or regulations and economic
or political turmoil in countries where our assets are located and we do
business; 17) any disruption to information technology systems and networks that
our operations rely on; 18) our ability to retain, motivate, develop and recruit
appropriately skilled employees; 19) unfavorable outcome of litigations; 20)
allegations of possible health risks from electromagnetic fields generated by
base stations and mobile devices and lawsuits related to them, regardless of
merit; 21) our ability to achieve targeted costs reductions and increase
profitability in Nokia Siemens Networks and to effectively and timely execute
related restructuring measures; 22) developments under large, multi-year
contracts or in relation to major customers in the networks infrastructure and
related services business; 23) the management of our customer financing
exposure, particularly in the networks infrastructure and related services
business; 24) whether ongoing or any additional governmental investigations into
alleged violations of law by some former employees of Siemens AG ("Siemens") may
involve and affect the carrier-related assets and employees transferred by
Siemens to Nokia Siemens Networks; 25) any impairment of Nokia Siemens Networks
customer relationships resulting from ongoing or any additional governmental
investigations involving the Siemens carrier-related operations transferred to
Nokia Siemens Networks; as well as the risk factors specified on pages 11-32 of
Nokia's annual report Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2009 under Item
3D. "Risk Factors." Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying
assumptions subsequently proving to be incorrect could cause actual results to
differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Nokia does not
undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise,
except to the extent legally required.
Media Enquiries:
Nokia
Communications
Tel. +358 7180 34900
Email: press.services@nokia.com
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo's speech at Nokia Annual General Meeting will be available
later today also at www.nokia.com/agm
www.nokia.com <
http://www.nokia.com/>
[HUG#1412660]
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