The world’s biggest handset vendor, Nokia, said Tuesday that it expects industry mobile device volumes in 2008 to grow approximately 10 per cent, from the estimated 1.1 billion units shipped in 2007.

Speaking at the manufacturer’s annual investor event in the Netherlands on Tuesday, Nokia president and CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, said he expected this growth to be driven by emerging markets.

Industry mobile device volume growth is expected to be above 15 per cent in Asia-Pacific, China and the Middle East & Africa, while growth in North America, Europe and Latin America is expected to be below 10 per cent.

As a result, Nokia expects the 4 billion mobile subscriptions mark to be reached in 2009, rather than in 2010 as previously forecasted. Last week, Informa Telecoms & Media announced that global mobile subscriptions had hit 3.3 billion, equivalent to 50 per cent of the global population.

Btu the strong growth of volume shipments in emerging markets will lead to a decline in industry Average Selling Prices (ASPs), Kallasvuo said.

The Finnish vendor expects to ship approximately 200 million devices with an integrated digital camera in 2007 and more than 250 million units next year. Shipments of Nokia music-enabled devices are expected to top 145 million this year and more than 180 million in 2008.

Kallasvuo also emphasized the company’s move to play in the internet services space, an initiative underpinned by its Ovi programme. “Nokia’s goal is to be the world number one in bringing the internet to mobile devices. We estimate that in 2010, the total internet services market will be approximately Eur100bn.”