Can Nokia take on the dual-SIM market?

So Nokia finally released their first dual-SIM phone in the Philippines, the Nokia C1-00. It’s a pretty basic phone but one that challenges the strong presence of local dual-SIM phone brands in the country.

There are at least 3 local phone brands that are competing in the dual-SIM and triple-SIM market — Cherry Mobile, Torque and MyPhone. That does not include the SG-based Verzio that came into the Philippines back in 2007.

Nokia C1-00 owners will also benefit from a large phonebook that can store up to 500 entries, a multi-phonebook for up to 5 users, a large memory enough to store 250 messages, standby battery time of up to six weeks with up to 13 hours talk time, the longest ever for a Nokia mobile phone.

For good measure, Nokia added a Flashlight feature and built-in FM radio tuner.

In my previous interview with Nokia executives in SG a few months back, they claim it’s not too late to enter the dual-SIM market. And while the target market does not really draw that much margins, the only approach is to generate tons of sales of these cheap phones.

I read somewhere (a year ago) that Torque was selling over 20,000 units a month while another source tells me Cherry Mobile sells close to 100,00 units per month. If you bring in the numbers from MyPhone and the other China-phones, that’s a huge volume.

Nokia has the trusted brand, network and resources to penetrate this market. The question is, will they also dominate it the same way they dominated the other segments of the mobile market? Only time will tell.

The Nokia C1-00 has a suggested retail price of Php2,070USD 35INR 2,990EUR 34CNY 257 and is available in red or medium blue at all Nokia Stores and authorized distributors nationwide.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

32 Comments

Vdiz0nJr88 says:

14 years ago

it looks nice! I think I will buy one.
- Reply
Spidey says:

14 years ago

samsung and lg has their dual-sim line up too, abe.
- Reply

Abe Olandres says:

14 years ago

@spidey – but Nokia has an estimated 6 out of 10 market share in the Phils.

Wakocoke says:

14 years ago

yown! a reliable cheap dual sim phone from nokia!
- Reply
deuts says:

14 years ago

but this one’s not dual-standby, right?
- Reply
Tammy says:

14 years ago

I wonder if this is triband. I need one for the US
- Reply
Teknisyan says:

14 years ago

About time… hope its not too late!! ;)
- Reply
dude2cool says:

14 years ago

Hope its dual standby… I’d absolutely get it.
- Reply
Mike W. says:

14 years ago

I’d still go for a fake blackberry china phone… dual standby, same price…
- Reply
hume says:

14 years ago

oh and nokia, i want you to know that samsung is eating up your market faster than you could even mutter WAIT!

gawd, the last nokia phone i used was such a disaster i grabbed a samsung with android os and never looked back! i used around 7 nokia phones and i was loving symbian until 5800 came up. what a disaster phone that was! unresponsive and very clunky. it creaked like hell and whenever i touch 1 icon, a different one opens!

grabe nokia! adieu! next stop HTC! android ftw
- Reply
RJCA says:

14 years ago

Wait for the C2, both sims are active. :>
- Reply
jojo says:

14 years ago

hopefully the next dual-sim cellphone from nokia will have much better features, say in the mold of my old yet trusty and reliable e51…
- Reply
loadex says:

14 years ago

not dual standby.. need to press a button to activate the other sim.

A dealer friend has been selling this model for over a month now, and not selling that much. Pinoys are familiar to the Torque and Cherrymobile dual standyby system, akala ng bumibili ganun din.. ayun at the end of the day, gusto na palitan.
- Reply
superdan says:

14 years ago

i think if nokia can release mid to high end phones with this feature, they can very well dominate the philippine market. though ang alam ko sa mga dual sim is you can’t activate the two sim cards at a time. though i’ve seen a samsung phone do this.

anyways, if they can do it properly, nokia can very well top cherry and torque in this category. mas kilala na kasi and trusted ang brand nila.
- Reply
vince says:

14 years ago

this is a dual sim phone (GSM 900 / 1800)

both sims will not work simultaneously, you have to choose which one is active. So if somone calls you on the inactive number …
- Reply
vince says:

14 years ago

full specs here

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_c1_00-3364.php
- Reply
Manny says:

14 years ago

i’ve heard problems on the CherryMobile. Anybody care to comment on the quality of the Torque?
thanks…
- Reply
MobilePinas says:

14 years ago

this unit (Nokia C1-00) is not in dual standby, so you have switch your sim just to use the other sim slot.
- Reply
Jay says:

14 years ago

@MobilePinas is Right! Its not Dual standy and you must switch your SIM just to use the other SIM. This Nokia Phone like the Samsung Dual Sim. what is the use of being Dual SIM if you need to switch SIM. Many people needed a mobilephone that is dualsim and dualstandy. Hope NOKIA Realize this…
- Reply
raymond says:

14 years ago

For the price, I’ll buy this instead.

http://myphone.com.ph/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=23

Has more features than the basic Nokia phone. Tulong pa sa Filipino products.

Price is not that much, so the “risk”is manageable.
- Reply
Vincent Linsangan Maldia says:

14 years ago

“The main draw to the Nokia C2 is obviously the dual SIM functionality. The Nokia C2 can keep both SIM cards active; meaning calls and text messages can come to either number while the phone is on. The first SIM card on the Nokia C2 sits underneath the battery. The second SIM card is â€˜hot-swappableâ€™, a feature unique to Nokia, meaning it can be removed and inserted when the phone is on”

http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/06/03/dual-sim-nokia-c2-revealed-photo-gallery/

better than the C1 since both sim cards are on all the time, although its still only dual band
- Reply
Jamby says:

14 years ago

Is this Dual Active Standby also Sir Abe??
- Reply
Pedro says:

14 years ago

i’ll just wait for the dual stand-by(NOKIA)… thanks for the tips… :p
- Reply
yizhan says:

14 years ago

Its about time that NOKIA make move.. hopefully ma-release young dual standby.
- Reply
Ton says:

14 years ago

Shouldn’t they be worried instead with the market that once upon a pre-blackberry time almost exclusively used Communicators?
- Reply
Guy Radaza says:

14 years ago

pretty kewl and cheap!
- Reply
MIke says:

14 years ago

its not dual standy sand to say that.
- Reply
Jes says:

14 years ago

Better wait for the C2-00. Kelan kaya labas at magkano?
- Reply
Andrew John P. Young says:

14 years ago

well, too little too late… but it sure looks like a good sturdy phone
- Reply
netbooksearcher says:

14 years ago

Yeah, kailan ba lalabas ang Nokia C2-00? Yun na lang ang bibilhin ko.
- Reply
Lzly says:

14 years ago

hi.. does any1 know if c2 is already out of the market? and how much does it cost??? im pretty intrested.. tenx!
- Reply