Nokia is this week beginning sales of its Asha 501 device, the first powered by the vendor’s new Asha Platform, which will be available at a sub-$100 price point.

The new handset will be available initially in Thailand and Pakistan, with India “soon to follow”. It will subsequently rollout across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Nokia previously said it expects to sell 100 million of its “new generation Asha” devices in the future.

The launch comes at a point when the company is facing fierce competition from a number of low-cost Android smartphone makers targeting emerging markets.

Asha 501 has a 3-inch touch screen, includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and will be available in both single and dual-SIM versions. It also has a 3.2 megapixel camera.

The device lacks 3G support.

It has two main screens: Home, which offers a traditional application launcher, and Fastlane, which “adapts to display recent activity on the phone as well as upcoming events”, and integrates with Facebook and Twitter.

It also includes Nokia’s Xpress Browser, which compresses data by up to 90 per cent.