22 March 2005

Nokia sees end for makers
of MP3 players, video cams

Mobile phones will deal a final blow to makers of music devices and video camcorders, having already hit the photo industry, a senior executive at handset maker Nokia told the Financial Times newspaper.

Anssi Vanjoki, head of the multimedia unit at the world's largest cellphone maker, pointed in comments published on Tuesday to Nokia's 2000 forecast of the death of the photo industry, and said the same fate was looming for other sectors.

Nokia made 100 million cameraphones last year, making it the world's largest camera manufacturer.

Among famous photo industry players, Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. said in January it would withdraw from the business and Agfa-Gevaert sold its once famous photographic arm in 2004.

"In the next 6-12 months, there will be more of these announcements. The next to disappear will be the makers of music devices and then the manufacturers of video cameras," Vanjoki was quoted as saying.

Nokia made 40 million music handsets last year and set a target to double this in 2006.

Until now, videofilming has been possible mainly on expensive smartphones, which run computer-like applications like e-mail, but its presence on mid-priced phones has been increasing.