HMD Global, a Finnish company licensed to sell the Nokia smartphone brand, aims to double its revenue in Thailand this year despite economic challenges, driven by the tablet segment as well as new IT product categories.
"Our goal this year is to drive growth by 100%, but to achieve this we need to find the value proposition of products with quality and affordable prices," Paradorn Ramaboot, HMD business development manager, said in a virtual conference.
Thailand is one of the company's most important Asian markets, Mr Paradorn said. The company's target growth is quite a challenge due to the current sluggish economy, he noted.
In 2021 the company's revenue in Thailand rose 50% year-on-year, Mr Paradorn said.
To achieve the growth target, the company will expand its reach to more product categories, including tablets.
The company launched its first ever tablet, the Nokia T20, onto the Thai market yesterday. The 10.4-inch-display tablet powered by Android 11 costs 8,590 baht. It has 4GB of RAM, 64GB of ROM, and an 8,200 mAh battery.
This year tablet demand might not grow as exponentially as in 2020 and 2021 but the segment is still thriving as people use the devices for remote work and online study, video calling and entertainment content consumption.
According to the Global Web Index Survey, global tablet sales reached 170 million units in the first three quarters of 2021. Some 55% of the users are male.
People aged 45-54 are the biggest tablet users with 28%, followed by those aged 35-44 (25%), 55-64 (23%), 25-34 (21%) and 16-24 (4%).
Android-based tablets make up around 60% of the tablet segment in Thailand, said Mr Paradorn.
According to a report by market research firm Counterpoint, global tablet sales registered 53% year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2021.
Nokia's "Connected Consumer Radar" report indicated 27% of tablet owners said they had realised the importance of tablets after the pandemic took place.
Mr Paradorn said the Nokia T20 can facilitate people's new lifestyles for work, study, and entertainment. The device provides three years of monthly security updates.