News : Samsung seeking growth on Nokia's turf

By Rauli Laitinen

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The world's No. 2 cellphone maker Samsung is seeking to grow in Finland, the home of top player Nokia, with touch-screen phones, the company said on Friday.

Currently the South Korean company has about 6 percent share in the market that is dominated by Nokia, which has about 86 percent share in its home market, a recent study showed.

"Our goal is to get back to about 15 percent share of the cellphone market (in Finland)," Samsung's Finland sales head Mika Engblom said on Friday.

Samsung had a stronger position in the Finnish market in 2005 when it introduced clamshell phones there, a new trend in the European market at the time.

Nokia reiterated earlier this week it plans to launch a touch-screen handset in the latter half of the year.

Samsung aims to improve its position in Finland with a line-up of devices such as the Omnia, which it just introduced.

At the same time Nokia is planning to enter the Korean market but has not yet unveiled products there.

Finland is one of the most mature mobile phone markets where developments may be seen as indicators of trends elsewhere.

Samsung on Friday published a study of Finns' preferences in consumer electronics and said touch screens were seen going hand in hand with ease of use.

"It is quite interesting in the survey results that older people were the ones who wanted a touch screen," Engblom said.

(Reporting by Rauli Laitinen; Writing by Sami Torma; Editing by David Holmes)