Nokia says that the Internet is the key to the next phase of growth in the mobile phone industry

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) today outlined its vision for the future of the mobility industry, predicting that the internet would become the key driving force in a market it expects to reach 4 billion global subscriptions during 2010. The comments were made in a speech by Nokia CEO and President, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, to more than 2,000 people from the mobile and internet industries attending the Nokia World 2006 conference.

"Mobile communications is once again changing even faster than many of us have predicted, and we are still far away from this being a mature market." said Kallasvuo. "The internet has transformed the way we live our lives and communicate with each other, and we expect it to play a key role in the next phase of Nokia’s growth. The next wave of the internet will be to make it truly mobile, creating new ways for people to connect to others and find information from wherever they are. Nokia intends to be at the forefront of this new era and be the company that truly merges the internet and mobility."

At the two-day event, Nokia said growth in the mobility industry was accelerating faster than predicted earlier, and that it now expected the industry to reach the milestone of 3 billion mobile subscriptions globally in 2007. Nokia also gave its new forecast of 4 billion global mobile subscriptions during 2010.

Source: Nokia PR

Not going to happen until prices fall. Some providers, *cough* Verizon (NYSE: VZ) *cough* charge as much as an extra $50/month for Internet! T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) however, $7/month. I’ve already made several people switch, but I’m not about to start working at their hut in the mall.