Chalk it up as a rumor for now, but should DigiTimes be correct, we could see more Nokia touchscreen devices launch in 2009. Though they?re well aware of the slow economic times (and have suffered pretty severely to date, much like everything else), Nokia has told its chip suppliers that it will increase orders in March for the second quarter, reportedly for 3G and 3.5G devices with multi-touch and multimedia functions. The actual source statement is below:
?Although Nokia has reported 70% profit decline for the fourth quarter of 2008 and is not optimistic about the first-quarter outlook, it has told chip suppliers that it wil increase orders in March mainly for new models expected to ship in the second quarter, the sources claimed. As Nokia is going to launch several 3G and 3.5G products with multi-touch and multimedia functions in 2009, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments (TI) and Synaptics are expected to be beneficiaries of the increased orders, the sources noted.?
Something that caught my eye: the word "several." Obviously, Nokia is beginning to understand the crucial market segment that is touchscreen devices. We knew that the handsets were in the company's future, given the launch of the 5800 XpressMusic (coming to the US shortly), however considering that handset demand dropped 12.6 percent globally in Q42008, it's always nice to see that some progress is being made towards the ever-popular standard. And, after all, the iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Storm need some good-natured competition!
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