If you were in any doubt that smartphones are going mass-market, then take a close look at the first quarter results of Nokia, the world’s leading handset maker, which were published yesterday. Nokia said that the average selling price (ASP) of its “converged mobile devices” was 155 Euros in the first quarter, down from 190 Euros in the first quarter of 2009 and 186 Euros in the fourth quarter. ASPs normally fall just a few Euros each quarter, so a sequential decline of 31 Euros is a pretty sharp fall.

In Nokia terminology, converged mobile devices refer to both smartphones and mobile computers, such as the pricey Nokia Booklet 3G. Nokia’s latest ASP figures imply that the wholesale cost of the cheapest smartphones must now be hovering around the 100 euro mark. Nokia’s converged mobile device portfolio encompasses both iPhone competitors, such as the Nokia N900, which retails for about 500 Euros, including sales tax, and some much cheaper phones, such as the Nokia E63, which can be had for about 170 Euros without a contract at retail.

Mass-market territory

In Europe, the U.S. and developed Asia, a wholesale ASP of below 100 Euros is encroaching on mass market territory – just two years ago the average (wholesale) selling price of all Nokia handsets was 79 Euros, across both developed and developing markets. Given the sharp fall in the ASP, it is not surprising that Nokia’s sales of converged mobile devices surged almost 60% year-on-year to 21.5 million units in the first quarter of 2010.

For mobile software developers, these ASP trends are interesting for two reasons. Firstly, they suggest that new market segments, from teenagers to the low paid, will soon be able to afford a smartphone and it is time to start rolling out apps specifically aimed at these new users. Secondly, the steep fall in Nokia’s ASP underlines how the Finland-based handset maker is fighting aggressively for market share in the smartphone market and how more developers, particularly those aiming downmarket, should consider selling through its Ovi app store.

Right now, there is far less competition on Ovi than there is on Android and the Apple App Store. Whereas, Android Market stocks 38,000 apps, Nokia said yesterday that its most popular smartphones can now access 9,500 content items (including apps) in the Ovi store. It added that operator billing is now available through more than 60 operators in 19 countries and the store is executing 1.5 million downloads a day.