Mobile phone giant Nokia has issued new forecasts for itself and the telecoms industry, predicting that global handset sales will grow by 10% in 2005, to 693 million units.
At the same time the company reiterated its view that the global handset volume would reach 630 million units in 2004, of which a third will made by Nokia.
The firm also repeated its long-term market share target of 40%, up from around 30% currently.
'We expect penetration to grow and the replacement rate to remain stable as more advanced camera phones, brighter colour screens, MP3 players and 3G encourage upgrades,' chief executive Jorma Ollila said.
By 2008, more than 600 million camera handsets and 200 million smart phones will be sold annually, Nokia estimated.
The Finnish giant now also expects the global mobile phone subscriber base to reach two billion users in 2006.
Over the past 12 months Nokia has seen its market share shrink by a quarter, from nearly 40% at the end of last year to some 31% in the third quarter as it failed to pick up on the popularity of fold-out clamshell phones in Europe.
Ollila acknowledged that Nokia had been adapting its approach, portfolio and technologies 'to sharpen our competitive position'.
Next year Nokia plans to launch about 40 new handsets, with over half of the phones clamshell or other models with hidden keypads, and two-thirds of them will have built-in cameras, he added.
Following its sudden sales slump in its mobile phones, Nokia's overall profitability has subsequently suffered, and the company now aims to cut development spending in order to boost its margins.
