Nokia plans 'product a week'

Nokia chairman Jorma Ollila says the company will be introducing around one new product a week for the first half of 2002.

His comments came after the company revealed that full-year profits fell to £3.24bn, from £3.62bn in 2000.

Around 20 new products will be released in the first half of this year by Nokia, including mobile phones which can play music and take pictures.

Mr Ollila says: "This is going to be a year of new, exciting products, new technologies that will create new markets and investment in infrastructure.

"This is the product transition we have been talking about, which will lead to new ways of communicating."

Mr Ollila says: "More and more operators in Asia and the US will be migrating to get these services to the consumer. We expect an evolutionary, smooth transition to the mobile integrated services market."

New phones scheduled for release include the Nokia 7650 imaging phone, which also has a camera; and the Nokia 5510, which works as a music player or game console.

Nokia's results come a day after Motorola, the world's second-largest handset maker, revealed it was still running at a loss despite widespread cutbacks.