The Rise, Rule and Epic Fall of Nation’s “First” Mobile Phone Brand

In 2001, mobile phones started becoming smarter with features like colour screens, Bluetooth and it was time for Nokia to bring out its first camera phone, Nokia 7650. World was never the same again.

But soon the company’s hope dashed down when other players started growing, real fast. Samsung embraced the smartphone revolution with open arms, iPhone came to India in 2008 and in 2009 India’s first Android powered smartphone by HTC was launched.

India became crucial for Nokia as Nokia was for India. And Nokia covered the whole of India with equal attention. In 2004 Nokia introduced text messaging in Hindi for rural parts of the country and the same year also launched the first wi-fi enabled phone, Nokia Communicator N9500.

Nokia launched its most popular phone till date, the Nokia 1100 in 2003, company’s first made-for-India budget friendly phone. Nokia sold around a whopping 250 million units, making it not just the best selling phone but also the best selling consumer electronics product in the world.

Nokia joined forces with Microsoft in 2011 hoping to strengthen its position in the highly competitive smartphone market. But Nokia’s delay in making ‘smartphones’ was probably the biggest reason why Nokia lost its game. The King of Indian mobile phone market was dethroned by Samsung in 2012.

In 1998 when networks started expanding and call rates dropped to about Rs. 12 to Rs. 16 per minute mobile phones started becoming popular and Nokia launched its Nokia 5110. It had its first Indian ringtone, “Saare Jahan Se Accha”.

Three years later, it was the end of Nokia phones when Nokia sold its mobile phones business to Microsoft in 2014.

While its competitors like LG and Samsung were also into a wide range of consumer electronics, Nokia had its blinders on for mobile phones. And the focus became clearer in 2006 when the Finnish company was the first firm to set up a manufacturing unit for mobile phones at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai in Tamil Nadu.

In 2007 India had some 95,000 mobile phone outlets and most of them only sold Nokia. In May 2007 Nokia chose India for their global launch when its chief executive Stephen Elop launched Nokia’s sub $100 handset, Asha 501.

By 2000 the mobile phones had become smaller, lighter, had bigger display and no antenna. Nokia in 2000 launched the Nokia 3310 perfect device for the ‘Snake game’ and introduced its first phone with a user menu in Hindi on its Nokia 3210 handset.

And the love affair continued, in 2005, there was a long string of Symbian phones that followed: the Nokia 3660, 6600, N73 and N95. Nokia also added user interfaces in other Indian languages making sure it reaches many hands.

The first phone call on a cellphone in India was made on a Nokia mobile phone on July 31st, 1995 when Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu called Union Telecom Minister Sukhram in New Delhi.