Nokia to open design centers in Brazil and India

To pursue its domination in the developing countries, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) plans to build two new design facilities – one in Rio de Janerio, Brazil and another one in Bangalore, India. According to Nokia CEO and President Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, by 2010, there will be 4 billion mobile subscribers in the world, most of them coming from the Asia-Pacific region.

Nokia is already a market leader in India, and with the growth in number of mobile subscribers in the country, the company plans to further strengthen its position. At present, India has around 136 million mobile subscribers, but the telephone penetration is about 16% only. Furthermore, Indian telecom industry’s monthly subscriber addition of new mobile users is around 7 million.

The situation with the Brazil is similar. The country’s growing telecom industry opens new opportunities and Nokia wants to be there to offer its handsets and business solutions to all interested parties.

Now what does all that have to do with Symbian? Well, I find it interesting that at some point in the future two new design centers could design the smartphones. And I’m not talking about cheap and mid-range devices. Nokia will certainly hire the best people in its design centers, and who knows – maybe we’ll get a new range of smart devices with Latino or Hindu touch.