Mobile phone giant Nokia expects to boost its market lead by setting up 18 flagship stores worldwide, complementing its global distribution via mobile network operators.
Executives at Nokia, also China's leading handset supplier, revealed the customer strategy at the launch yesterday of the Finnish company's first Asian flagship store in Hong Kong at Causeway Bay.
Nokia opened its first flagship store in Moscow last year, followed by another in Chicago.
Cliff Crosbie, Nokia director for global retail and trade marketing, said the next flagship store was likely to be opened on the mainland, perhaps in Beijing or Shanghai. That will put Nokia in head-to-head competition with rival Motorola which recently opened its own flagship store in Shanghai.
Colin Giles, senior vice-president for customer and marketing operations at Nokia China, said the stores were to help customers use their phones, especially increasingly advanced 3G camera-phones.
'3G brings many new features to a handset such as e-mail, gaming and mobile television. So you need to spend more time to explain the technology,' Mr Giles said.