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Will Nokia offer its LTE handset as a Verizon exclusive? - Juniper

Reports are emerging (says Andy Kitson) that "Nokia is developing a high-end ‘data-intensive’ touchscreen-based device that will work on the LTE (long term evolution) network soon to be rolled out by Verizon Wireless across the US." But will it be exclusive?

Kitson's analysis (his blog) says that the device could be available next year:

Nothing’s been officially announced yet, but a deal would represent a significant strategic win for Nokia, which has a minuscule share of the US mobile handset market (it sold a measly 4.1 million devices in North America in Q408, down 19.6% y-o-y) and which has sought to improve its position there.

Where does Kitson get the idea of an exclusive, though?

"Nokia clearly hopes to emulate the success that Apple has enjoyed with its exclusive arrangement with AT&T Wireless to sell the iPhone to US customers. It must also envy HTC’s success in selling the first Android-based handsets in exclusive partnership with T-Mobile USA. So, it seems very likely that any LTE device produced by Nokia for Verizon would be offered under a similarly exclusive arrangement."

The story, as published, is just one of many recent headlines emphasising the determination of the major mobile players to standardise on LTE technolology.

Kitson predicts that the US market will be an early adopter of this, mainly for business data, and that Verison, following its success in what he calls the prosumer markets with Blackberry deals, see this business opportunity as a big growth area in the next three years: "

Given Nokia’s lack of market share in what is one of the largest mobile user markets in the world (approximately 270 million at the end of 2008, according to my colleague Dr Windsor Holden, who’s currently hip-deep in conducting Juniper’s regular census of global mobile subscribers) and where there has emerged a healthy appetite for data-centric mobile services, this coming together of mobile powerhouses will prove most timely."

Kitson ends by quoting the GSA (Global Mobile Suppliers Association) which says 26 mobile network operators have now confirmed plans to upgrade with LTE. Juniper reckons ten of these could be operational by the end of next year.

Read Kitson's Juniper blog for more.