LONDON, England – Kicking off Nokia World with a bang, Niklas Savander, EVP Markets, promised that “Nokia is back”. The introduction of a newly invigorated operating system, a new line-up of smartphones for everyone and improved navigation services marks a company that is ready to dominate the space, he said. Why? Read on for our snapshot of his introductory keynote speech.

Savander began with an introduction to Nokia people – people in all walks of life and every country. They’re keen media consumers, but also creators, who are continually connecting. And ‘Connecting People’ is not just a marketing tagline in the case of Nokia: it is its mission. Nokia people are 1.3 billion strong. For Nokia, the vision of Connecting People becomes even more relevant every day as these people depend on their mobile devices for more and more.

Nokia is going through a period of transition. But it is not about to apologise for not being Google or Apple. It is Nokia, and unique.

It’s unique because, to a greater extent than any other company, its market is the world. It knows, for example, that just one device cannot satisfy the world’s needs, even within just one segment of its products. To try to do so would lead to compromises, either with the camera, the browser, the keyboard or the phone itself.

Savander noted that there seems to be some misinformation about sales figures in some segments of the press. In the last year, people bought more Nokia phones and smartphones than Apple and Google combined. On average, people buy 260,000 Nokia smartphones every day – brand new devices, with the numbers not boosted through sales of music players and computers. It’s more smartphone sales than any other company by far.

That said, Savander noted that Nokia hasn’t been as competitive as it might have been in smartphones. Over recent months, it’s been working on a new Symbian – one that is faster, easier-to-use, more efficient and more developer friendly. The first fruits of this new operating system come in the form of the Nokia N8 – a device that has already been signed up for by more than 100 operators in 44 countries.

Savander concluded his speech by turning to the subject of navigation and Ovi Maps. He noted that Nokia, not Google, is the leader in mobile navigation. It’s better in terms of functionality, quality and reach. Seventy per cent of the GPS-enabled phones in people’s hands today are Nokias. Ovi Maps does not require an Internet connection to work. Extra features are added if you do have a connection, and then, it is much less bandwidth than other mobile mapping solutions. The next stage of these devices will make the experience social, transcending the user experience as we know it.