Analysts had seen Nokia as losing ground on slim models to its chief rivals, U.S.-based Motorola and Samsung of South Korea, which introduced the handsets more than a year ago.
Nokia's new model, the N76, is a light clamshell model, which includes a 2-megapixel camera and 2 gigabytes of expandable memory. But at 13.7 millimeters (0.5 inch) thick, it is only slightly thinner than Motorola's popular Razr model and is nearly twice as thick as Samsung's X820, which the Asian company claims to be the thinnest on the market.
In a series of announcements, Nokia avoided the word "slim," describing the new model only as "a trimmer fold model," and emphasized its large display and high memory capacity.
Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said Nokia "did not want to compromise any of the key Nokia N-series experiences" with the N76.
Nokia -- the world's largest mobile phone maker -- said it is now also the top maker of smartphones, known as "converged devices" that enable fast Internet access and downloads -- having sold more than 44 percent of the 90 million on the global market.
The number of smartphones is expected to hit 250 million by 2008, Kallasvuo said at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
"Single-purpose devices are becoming less attractive. And the converged devices taking their place are increasingly powerful and easy to use," he said.
Kallasvuo said that more than 850 million people worldwide now use Nokia handsets. "No other consumer electronics company in the world has ever had such a customer base," he said.
Nokia said it will cooperate with eBay Inc.'s Skype telecommunications subsidiary to enable cell phone users to make calls over the Internet, particularly with its new N800 Internet Tablet, which allows wireless Skype connections.
Skype said it will team up with Nokia with the N800, which is already commercially available in the U.S. and selected European countries. The updated version of the device with Skype features will be available by the end of first half of 2007, Nokia said.
"Working with the leading mobile handset manufacturer puts us in a unique position to get Skype to the mobile masses," said Eric Lagier, head of Skype's business development in hardware and mobile operations.
Nokia also launched the N93i, a combined multimedia phone and digital camcorder that it says allows users to shoot DVD-quality videos.
Last year, Nokia said the Internet was boosting mobile technology faster than earlier expected and predicted that 3 billion mobile subscriptions will be reached in 2007, instead of 2008 as it had earlier said. It also predicted that the 4 billion mark would be reached in 2010.
Nokia shares were little changed at euro15.25 (US$19.95) in Helsinki trading.
Based in Espoo near the Finnish capital, Nokia has operations in 130 countries with 65,000 employees.
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