• Acquisition of assets of Valona Labs will turn HMD to focus on enterprises’ mobile security.
• From a pure hardware player, HMD turns into hardware, software and services player.
• 5G will play a very critical role in fueling demand for smartphones, HMD says.

Dubai: HMD Global, makers of Nokia brand of mobile phones, is aiming to double its market share in the enterprise space and turn into hardware, software and services player.

HMD acquired the assets of Finland-based Valona Labs, a mobile cybersecurity software company, in July.

“With the acquisition, we have set up a new R&D centre of excellence in Finland. The deal will enhance the enterprises’ cybersecurity aspect and the overall experience and build our reputation as a leader in smartphone security and updates,” Sanmeet Singh Kochhar, Vice-President for HMD Global Middle East, North Africa and India, told TechChannel News.

The centre is exploring ways of delivering technologies such as remote device locking, enterprise mobility management, mobile device software security, secure network communication and black box testing.

In March, HMD launched HMD Connect, a SIM card that enables low-cost international roaming on smartphones in over 120 countries.

Given the current geopolitical situation, this is going to play a strong differentiation as “we move forward,” Kochhar said.

The Finnish startup, which will celebrate its fourth anniversary in December, promises two Android OS upgrades and three years of monthly security upgrades for its devices.

“We are the only European brand with a differentiated proposition. When everything is going digital, the security aspect is very important in the current scenario. We have been recognised by Counterpoint Research as the fastest brand in terms of software upgrades and having devices across different price points,” Kochhar said.

“Consumers are also important to us, but the enterprise segment is an important priority because of our proposition – security, reliability and trust – and due to the current geopolitical situation. We make sure that the data of our fans from their devices will be safe,” he said.

Most of HMD’s smartphones have been validated as part of the Android Enterprise Recommended programme, approved by Google to meet objective business standards, which includes an elevated set of specifications for hardware, software, deployment into company IT systems, security updates and user experience.

Differentiated proposition

The market has been very commoditised and is in the price and specs race, he said and added that they believe that they have a “differentiated proposition”.

“The competition is going to be there and there is room for every brand to grow and we have a strong reason to gain market share in the current geopolitical scenario due to the trust and reliability of our devices,” he said.

Industry experts said that the void created by Huawei in the smartphone space, outside of China, is expected to be filled by other smartphone manufacturers.

HMD is the number one in feature phones in value terms while iTEL is the number one in volume terms.

“We have gained market share in smartphones in different price points and different countries.  In the fourth quarter of 2019, we churned a profit and we are present in 180 countries and we have a direct presence in 80 countries,” Kochhar said.

Even in difficult times of Covid, he said that they have received $230 million funding from three of the giants in the technology world – Google, Qualcomm and Nokia.

5G phones in October

“This speaks volume in what HMD has achieved in the business.  We bring the best of the phone ecosystem with the three tech giants.  The funds will be used to expand in its priority markets such as Brazil, Africa and India and move more into areas such as software and services,” Kochhar said.

HMD has received its first funding of $100 million in 2018, led by Ginko Ventures via Alpha Ginko Ltd. with participation from DMJ Asia Investment Opportunity Limited and Wonderful Stars, a subsidiary of FIH Mobile Ltd.

HMD sold 70 million phones last year and claims to have sold more than 240 million to date. The company has five manufacturing locations around the world – India, Vietnam, Latin America, Indonesia and China.

Kochhar said that demand for smartphone and feature phones are very resilient and can come back very strongly and 5G will play a very critical role globally.

HMD is going to launch 5G phones in October.

“We want to accelerate the company’s mission of making 5G smartphones affordable globally and expand in priority markets,” he said.

Moreover, he said that the Nokia is one of the most loved brands globally due to its heritage and HMD Global is the one responsible for carrying ahead the legacy of the brand in the mobile phone industry.

According to social listening and analytics company Talkwalker’s new report on “Brand Love Story 2020”, HMD Global is ranked in the tenth place in the Middle East and Africa regional list.