The world"s top cell phone maker Nokia launched on Tuesday its much-hyped N-Gage gaming handset, with the company"s first step onto turf ruled by Japan"s Nintendo meeting a mixed response.
Nokia launched the phones first in Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore and Thailand, part of a worldwide blitz kicking off one of the firm"s largest-ever product launches as it seeks growth from the gaming sector to offset slowing expansion of the global handset market. The Finnish firm said it aims to sell between six and nine million units between now and the end of 2004 as it seeks to break the grip on a market dominated by Nintendo"s GameBoy. "That represents the critical mass required for the business to become a successful platform," Loren Shuster, Asia Pacific director of Nokia"s entertainment and media unit, said at an event in Hong Kong.
By way of comparison, Nintendo said in February it aimed to sell 20 million GameBoy Advance units in the business year starting April 1, one-third more than in the previous year. Last year, Nokia sold over 150 million phones, and is approaching a global market share of some 40 percent. At stake for Nokia and N-Gage -- the first device to combine a handheld gaming console with conventional mobile phone features -- is a slice of the rapidly-expanding, multi-billion-dollar electronic games pie. Analysts have said they expect to see N-Gage"s sales start to show already in the fourth quarter, but with start-up costs estimated by some to be around 150 million euros ($175.7 million) the wait for a profit impact could be longer.