Nokia which is the undisputed king of the Indian market is facing  not only increased competition in the high end space from smartphones by Apple,RIMM,Google and others but also in the low priced end. A number of Indian companies like Olive,Micromax etc have made inroads with cheaper and feature rich handsets. Nokia has a much smaller  marketshare in the Chinese market because of competition from super cheap local Chinese competitors . When I worked a an intern  Nokia had a 70% marketshare of the Indian market, don’t think Nokia is going to regain their lost glory .Here you read between the lines their  executive saying they can’t compete at that price.He is saying that price in not the only game ,however last week  Nokia  introduced 3 cheaper qwerty handsets recently in the Indian market to counter competition. Would not be long Nokia stock despite their recent fall and low P/E multipe

Not to be left behind by cheap handsets that often offer many features comparable to Nokia’s at half the rates, the Finnish giant is banking on innovative distribution and finance to capture India’s hinterland market. While relying increasingly on the replacement market in urban areas, it has tied up with micro-finance institutions to make easy credit available for rural consumers and bundling it with value-added services customised for target groups of consumers.

“As market leaders our primary job is to find enablers to grow the market, and these enablers are replacement, micro finance availability, value added services and increased rural distribution,” D. Shivakumar, managing director, Nokia India said at a company retreat. Nokia will add 60,000 retail outlets over the next two years in India, where it has 200,000 outlets, of which 90,000 are rural.

Shivakumar said there is more to the game than prices because ultra-cheap phones were available for as low as Rs 500.