Eh, if you are a regular reader here, you already knew this.
For the past year, operators and phone makers have been saying that the bulk of their future growth will come from areas outside of the increasingly saturated mature markets. Nokia expects that in 2007, several regions, including China, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa, will experience 15 percent growth.
But Nokia is noticing the surprising trend of growth among customers in emerging markets who are upgrading their phones. Nokia estimates that this year, 52 percent of its sales in emerging markets will come from people who are replacing their phones, said Kai Oistamo, executive vice president and general manager of mobile phones for Nokia. Next year, that figure should grow to 60 percent, Nokia said.
