Nokia: Replacement sales to buoy earnings

Nokia went on the defensive after Sony Ericsson announced that its handset sales are slowing down [1] and Texas Instruments said it expected 3G chipset sales to fall [2]: The Finnish phone maker said that it expected the replacement handset market to boost its market share in 2008. Nokia said replacement sales would account for slightly over 70 percent of its volume in 2008, after accounting for just less than 70 percent in 2007. The company expected color screens, cameras, email applications and music players to help drive the market. Nokia noted that growth in China and APAC countries have boosted the falling sales in EMEA, North America and Latin America.

Also, InterDigital announced today that it was in talks with Nokia over settling a patent dispute over 3G technology. While Nokia confirmed that the parties were in talks, neither side would comment further.

For more on Nokia's expectations:
- read this article [3] from Washington Post
- check out this AP article [4] about InterDigital