iPhone won't steal Nokia's market share

Nokia is heading towards 40 per cent global market share and Apple's iPhone won't make a dent in that, according to a US distributor of mobiles and other wireless devices.

"Nokia's market share is on its way towards the 40 per cent mark, and it has a superior standing in cheap, midrange as well as high-end wireless devices," Brightpoint chief executive Bob Laikin told Finnish financial daily Kauppalehti, in comments published on Wednesday.

Nokia, the world's top mobile-phone maker, is Brightpoint's largest customer. Nokia reported a global market share of 36 per cent in the first quarter.

Laikin also said he expects that Apple's iPhone, set to go on sale this Friday in the US, will have only a novelty position in the market.

"Apple's iPhone will sell in the US in the coming quarters maybe one to two million units. That is quite small, considering that perhaps 170 million [mobile] phones are being shipped in North America this year," Laikin told Kauppalehti. Apple's phone costs $499 (£250) to $599 (£300), while many Americans wish to buy a device for $99 (£50), he said.

"Apple will have to do other things in addition to creating hype, if it wants a large number of buyers for its phone," Laikin told the paper.