Like anything in sales, it all comes down to numbers. I believe that this has been proven time and time again thanks to the business world. So now the question becomes whether or not India and China become the standard for the rest of the world?

Nokia, the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, on Thursday raised its forecast for growth in the global cellphone market as demand grows in China and India.

The cellphone market will probably expand by 15 percent or more this year, compared with a previous forecast of at least 10 percent, Nokia’s chief executive, Jorma Ollila, told shareholders.

Nokia shares rose more than 5 percent, their biggest gain in over a year. Nokia and its main rival, Motorola, are selling more lower-priced phones as growth in demand from markets like China and India outpaces that in the United States and Europe.

“Half of the mobile phones sold this year will be sold in developing countries,” Ollila said.

Ollila reaffirmed Nokia’s forecast that about 80 percent of the next billion mobile phone subscribers would come from emerging markets.

The company is expecting the global base for mobile phone subscribers to reach three billion in 2008. The industry sold an estimated 795 million units last year, Ollila said. Source: International Herald Tribune