Nokia Wants Apple-Style Cut Of Mobile Plans
By Dianne See Morrison - Tue 11 Dec 2007 02:58 AM PST
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) wants a cut from a subscriber’s mobile plan, just as Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has managed to wrangle from wireless networks carrying their iPhone. “As far as mobile phones are concerned we are sticking with our old business model - that is, we get paid for our devices. But for providing new services we are seriously considering a shared turnover model,” said Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo in an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (via Heise Online).
There’s no doubt that Apple’s deal with networks has turned the handset business on its head. While Apple or any of the networks that carry its iPhone exclusively has never confirmed the figure, the Cupertino-based company is said to get around a 30 percent cut of the mobile plan an iPhone-buying customer subscribes to. AT&T (NYSE: T) CEO Randall Stephenson has said that he sees the iPhone as the possible first step in the end of networks subsidizing handsets. “We have this model of subsidized handsets…the iPhone is the first shot across the bow. Make a device you can sell for a profit, and you can have the deal,” he said.
Nokia has been busy trying to offer more mobile services directly to consumers--some that bypass the operators, such as its recent deal with Universal in which customers will get free access to music for a year for purchasing a Nokia handset. It also acquired digital mapping firm Navteq, which it plans to use toward location-based services. Kallasvuo told the German newspaper that Nokia was on the hunt for more internet businesses. “We are interested in Internet communities, navigation and all kinds of entertainment. We will look into these areas and strike when an opportunity arises.”
Posted in: Companies, Apple, Nokia
