I still remember when my aunt handed me my first cellphone at the beginning of 2006: A Nokia 1100 with an Econet 099 SIM. Back then if you did not want to go wrong you bought a Nokia phone: they were cheap, reliable, user friendly and the accessories were everywhere. It was a phone for every man and women who could not afford the other fancy and pricey models. Nokia had the largest market share and made more phones than anyone.
Fast forward to 2013 and the affordable phones are all but gone and so is the largest market share and user friendly interfaces. It is not clear what went wrong at Nokia. Reports indicate that Samsung shipped close to 107 million mobiles phones in the first quarter of this year which translates to 29% of the global market. When compared to Nokia’s shipments of 62 million phones, around 16% of the market, it is obvious that Nokia is falling. This fact is further reinforced by the fact that last year Nokia shipped 83 million phones in the same quarter.
I attempted to unravel the mystery and somehow Windows 8 mobile keeps popping up. The smartphone industry is a very competitive cut throat place where profit margins are very tight. Nokia decided to bet on Windows 8 Phone and lost big. In addition to being accused by both experts and bloggers of having a horrible unintuitive interface and lacking an app ecosystem, Microsoft also demanded their traditional business model licence fees resulting in expensive devices that are likely to disinterest potential customers. People already have the iPhone and iPad on the expensive end of the spectrum both of which have a vibrant app ecosystem and a familiar user interface that is well tested and trusted. On the affordable side Google’s Android is making a killing with its 52% of the market share.
Knowing Zimbabweans, and a lot of the world’s consumers for that matter, to be very price sensitive; it is mind boggling therefore that Nokia, the company that made the user friendly 1100 and the N-series does not have Android phones for sale. Android is free and might allow them to compete better with the tight margins. Instead they have stuck with Windows 8, the pariah of the smartphone OSes. To give credence to my argument that a lowly priced device would go a long way in regaining lost market share, they piloted a new device, the Nokia Lumia 521 on Home Shopping Network which was priced at around $150 and it was quickly sold out.
On this continent where Nokia was king, half the story is about price. The other half is about support and accessories. Nokia (and their Asian copycat accessory suppliers) used to be good at providing these more than anyone but now I wonder if I buy the Nokia Lumia, expensive as it is, where I will get it repaired or serviced in Zimbabwe. It seems with their shunning of budget phones they have also decided to hold back on support and accessories.
Nokia needs to join the Android bandwagon or risk joining Blackberry on the peripheries of the smartphone market. They can keep their Windows 8 hobby but it is doubtful this will bring much bread onto their tables. As more and more people buy smartphones they hazard losing their brand appeal and I would not be surprised if they start downsizing.
Is there anyone out there with a Nokia smartphone with Windows 8 or any other phone with Windows 8? I cannot think of ten people who have that.
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I have a WP. and yea you do suck for being bias. and no they need to join android. now tell me. How is Nokia going to get money on android when Samsung dominates the android market. Yea suck it bitch.
Same thing I ask these naysayers, point a manufacturer who makes money off android and is no named Samsung.
You are making the mistake of presuming that Android and WP are mutually exclusive. Nokia did not hedge their bets they have been using multiple Oses for a long time now surely they could handle Android and WP many OEMs do it.
Which vendors are truly putting effort into both Android and WP8?
HTC? Samsung? Neither is planning any more flagship WP8 models this year, neither has more than a 5% share of Windows Phone sales, and neither is putting any real effort into Windows Phone.
Nokia has cut down to a truly efficient operation. Microsoft handles the operating system, Nokia handles the hardware and the exclusive apps. If Nokia were to adopt Android, they would have to staff up a group just to support Android, skins, widgets, and all the other junk that goes along with it.
All just to compete in a commodity business with tons of low-cost competitors…
Whereas with 80-85% of the WP8 market, they can somewhat control the playing field. They don’t HAVE to compete feature-for-feature, spec-for-spec, with Android – they AREN’T Android. They are an alternative. And a more profitable alternative, if you’re Nokia.
I say let Nokia and Microsoft take WP8 as far as they can take it; together they are really the best bet for the future of Windows Phone.
Just seeing this article months later there is so much bias in this firstly what bloggers and experts have labeled WP8 as un-intuitive?which blogs do you read? because top blogs the verge and engadget all but praise WP8, even the S4 is having trouble unseating the lumias in the love department. The problem with WP7/8 is they came in late, they are gaining market share, the sales of the Lumia 520 local price tag of $180-200 is doing well… You were right about lack of apps but that changed a month ago with path, vine, hipmatic, and a bunch of other top apps joining the party essentially all that remains is instagram, with the launch of the 1020, 928 and 925. there has been testing of an instagram app, why not for the best smartphone cameras
i feel this was written hastily and without research secondly nokia hasnt abandoned the low end phone market they have their own OS as a secondary OS… have you seen nokia asha? to be more specific the nokia ASHA 207 & 208?? which are 3G phonesones selling for $68 what other phones is there at that quality at that price? ASHA global prices range from $30 to $100 your first phone the nokia 1100 debuted at $40.
So Nokia gets inline with an original OS by the world’s most used desktop OS manufacturer, sells well, gives support, has great accessories (monster headsets,JBL wireless dock stations). Then sells the world even cheaper intro smart phones at the price of a black and white screen… gets great reviews remind me how they are doing badly? you looked at lumia vs android vs iphone total sales… you didn’t account for projections, the fact Lumia is the newest of the bunch and thats apps are coming, the percentage increases from quarter to quarter and the global tech sales slow down (generally less pple are buying as they have what they need)
revise this article there’s just too much wrong but I understand where you were coming from.
We have a fanboy in this thread
Question: Is it worthwhile repairing a phone or just get another one from Ximex Mall?
Musi vauchanyura kana kusungwa uchatitaurira.
Ximex is a bad idea my friend, better the devil you know than an angel you don’t know
I have an android with a windows8 launcher LOL
U probably have not seen daylight for some time. Lumia are selling like cakes and Windows Phone 8 has 7.5% market share in 3 months.
Care to share the figures about these “cakes”???
Its easy. Google it.
I don’t have the worldwide numbers in front of me, but US market share of smartphones sold has increased from sub-2% to 5.6% in the last four months.
http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/News/news-articles/Windows-sees-steady-growth-in-Q1-2013
“Windows strength appears to be the ability to attract first time smartphone buyers, upgrading from a featurephone. Of those who changed their phone over the last year to a Windows smartphone, 52% had previously owned a featurephone. Comparatively, the majority of iOS and Android new customers were repeat smartphone buyers, with 55% of new iOS customers, and 51% of new Android customers coming from another smartphone. While the differences between these figures are small, with over half of the US market still owning a featurephone, it’s likely that many will upgrade over the coming year, which will ultimately contribute to more growth for the Windows brand.” Parlato continues.
This sounds a lot like the Linux desktop nosesense. We have 2% market share of the desktop and we are doing well. Really that’s some BS. WP is crap and deep down you know it. You are just blinded by all the FUD.
I tend to believe more in facts and figures than FUD.
I use Windows Phone, have since version 7.5.
I was on the soccer fields the other day and a high schooler noticed my phone, asked me if that was “one of those Windows Phones?” I replied yes, and she told me how she was going to get one when her contract was up.
She was carrying an iPhone.
My son has one, and he reports that he is seeing a slowly increasing presence of the devices in the halls and classrooms.
Linux is stagnated at a very small percentage of overall desktops in use, and there is no indication of an uptick. However, WP8 has been on the rise month to month since it came out. Larger share of sales means more devices in the wild, which translates to more exposure, which translates to more devices sold in the future.
And frankly, if it wasn’t for Nokia, there would be no Windows Phone 8.
So I’ll stick to my facts, figures, and observations. You stick to your opinions and emotions. We’ll see where it ends up.
What about Asha?
Asher is a crappy phone. Asher v Android will not be a contest at all.
i could have never opened my mouth to mention the Asha series here. it’s like comparing an SDTV with a smart TV
Where did you do your research as the Nokia Lumia range is selling and actually the ecosystem is quite good and better then the IOS, According to Forbes most new buyers are starting with WP8 and revenue for Windows has gone up. So again I ask where are you getting your research?
First you will notice I have included the official financial statements from the companies involved themselves. Every quarter (3 months) companies normally provide financial results in addition to the annual results. Even Nokia themselves acknowledge their fall in market share!
Man, you’re about 2 years late with predictions of Nokia demise. which were greatly exaggerated, as you know. Many people had to eat their precious Apple’s accessories when their predictions did not come through.
And if u are so sure, put your money where your mouth is, have you shorted NOK shares? I am happily long, let me know how you short is doing.
I am merely pointing out the fact that Nokia has fallen from grace as pointed out in the smartphone market share which I did not exaggerate Instead I have quoted figures to support my theory and believe me unless Nokia makes some drastic changes to Nokia will follow Blackberry. I would bet on Android and Apple to perpetuate and if I was a stock trader I would put my money on Samsung. As a consumer I have bought my Android tablet.
IMHO
Hardware -: iPhone > Any Android phone > Any WP8 phone
OS -: Android(4.0+) > iOS > WP8
App Ecosystem -: iOS > Android > WP8
Customisation -: Android > iOS == WP8
Unique/innovative -: WP8 > Android > iOS
This is developers opinion, trying to be unbiased otherwise I see..
I think you are biased in favour of Android, would you encourage a one OS world where everyone takes the easy way out? Windows Phone OS is not bad. Android just happened to be at the right place to take up with innovation of Google however the Android seems to be stagnating like Ios, incremental updates can only go so much then customers demand a new OS, Apple is facing that now. Windows 8 and BlackBerry 10 offer alternatives, something new and different with capacity to be improved upon so don’t count them out; some of us prefer the unique OSes, I am enjoying my Z10 and wouldn’t trade my learning keyboard with a static one.
I did not compare any Oses! I agree with you a One OS world would be undesirable indeed but I you will note that I never advocated for such a case. I merely pointed out a current trend. Nokia’s market share declining and attempted to find a cause for said decline.
I think Nokia’s demise started years before they went to bed with Microsoft. Its actually a sad story, Nokia produced the world’s first Smartphone (the 1996 Nokia 9000). Forget about the 1991 IBM Simon, it was not really for the mass market. And now they are in this sad situation….reminds me of Kodak.
Nokia Lumia 800 (Windows) I think because of security issues you can not convert your airtime to data bundles yet it is data monster, I spend more than $5 for me to get WhatsApp on it I had to download Zune (over200mb) for the PC to get an update on the 4n which was required for you to be able to download WhatsApp from the Marketplace. And finally forget about EcoCash!
Can you please repeat the question?
It is fair to say Android did a good job in getting off fast on the consumer side. Lumia is a business phone. Imagine comparing messaging on facebook and messaging within SAP!
It is totally untrue to say Android is free… Microsoft receives fees from constructors for using it, this fee is estimated between 5$ and 15$. I’m not sure of the price of Windows Phone, but it issurely not much higher…
About the choice of Nokia, when they decided to go for smartphones, Android phones were already everywhere, and Samsung was completely destroying the market (look the finances of HTC, they chose Android for most of their phones and are now in pretty bad shape). At least by betting on Windows Phone, Nokia tries to be original and by their last quarter results, it is kinda working out…
What do you mean Android is not free?
Android is not free as it does not give patent protection. OEMs would have to pay for the patents and MS is one the biggest beneficiaries of it. And suppose you include a feature which is patented by Apple….risk a ban!
Dude you are referring to Windows FUD it is the OEM’s fault if they succumb to patent troll’s demands.
With Windows Phone that is not the case. Software patents are entirely Microsoft’s responsibility. Moreover Apple and MS have agreements to share each other’s patents without royalties. Now, that is a big plus for the OEMs
Did you even stop for a minute to think that MS is the troll. Just Google it and you will see.
Googling out a little bit more you will see even Google involved in the muddy mess. I was talking from OEM perspective.
Android is free.
When monetized – sold as the OS on a commercially available phone – suddenly someone is making money off the technology in Android.
Android infringes many patents, more keep being discovered.
Google doesn’t make any money off the OS, but the OEMs do.
The OEMs get sued by the patent owner for monetizing an idea that doesn’t belong to them.
OEMs have to enter into a license agreement for said patent(s).
OEMs end up paying owners some $ per phone.
Android is no longer free.
Microsoft owns WP8, and as they are the licensor, they are the beneficiary of sales. If MS infringes a patent, then they are responsible for it – not the OEM that built the hardware.
Lots of haters here today… I for one totally agree. Nokia lost out on smartphones by being the last 1 to enter, surrender the path of open source, hire an ex MS manager and then go for mobile windows.
What Samsung do or does not has no relevance on what Nokia does.
Disagree. Nokia wasn’t moving fast enough with an alternative OS – Maemo, Meego took too long to get to marketable state. And IMHO, their basis in Linux (like Android) presumes extra compute power to drive the platform satisfactorily, and I don’t think that Nokia could have recovered R&D costs, paid for the extra hardware needed to run the OS, and also been competitive enough to win customers. Look at the N900 – it was HUGE. (I have one.)
The decision to open Symbian to the community didn’t make a very considerable impact on the speed of development and evolution.
Yes, Nokia lost the edge to Apple and failed to respond before Apple had taken hold of the market.
At this point, the only way to explode back into viability is to take a different tack than the competition. What better way to do that than to do what they aren’t doing?
Yes, it’s risky. But I think that as the facts start to come in, we will see that the risk was worth it.
Do some research Author
Lumia is doing well espeacialy in Price sensitive markets like India.Its getting sold out here in India.
Lumia is not that costly either it starts from $155 unsubsidised.
I know more than 10 people with lumia
Lumia has some cool accesories
Interface was lauded by experts and users alike espeacialy the tile interface.
Writing some an article and supporting it with false info like experts calling interface horrible is VERY BAD JOURNALISM.
Actually I did include your points in the third paragraph from last. I felt though that for Nokia it may be a case of too little too late
Where did you include my points I cant see any.Whatever be it with lumia nothing is still late.FACT is nokia is now in a better position than it was one year ago and lumia and Windows phone has a promising future too and its signs we can see now itself.
The unsusdised Nokia you are referring to is the Nokia Lumia 521 which is supposed to sell at around $150. The problem is it is not even in stock anywhere. Whatever few teasing devices they made were all sold out.
Four days ago (last Friday) reports were that the 521 was going to be put on sale in WalMarts and Microsoft Stores “sometime next week week.” They have only been offered for sale on HSN for a limited release and on WalMart.com.
To say that they have sold out “whatever few teasing devices they made” is to downplay or ignore the fact that the product is essentially not even released yet…. just “pre-release.”
Wait a week before you claim that this product is a tease.
No I didnt mean Lumia 521 I meant Lumia 520 which is the International version and was released world wide at WMC Barcelona.This device was also like 521 sold out in preorder in India before which it was topping bestseller charts.Your comment again shows how little knowledge you have on Nokia and its worldwide operations.
Speaking for the US, it appears Windows Phone 8 is showing promise. 25% quarterly growth in sales and a user satisfaction rating that matches Apple’s and trumps Android’s (listed on amazon, engaget and every other major reviewer). As a software engineer, WP8 is simply more efficient and more secure than android can ever be.
Nokia WAS king? You taken a walk down the street lately? Did you miss all the X2 and C3 and Asha 201 handsets all over the place? Those have become the bread and butter for phone dealers, they keep the cash flowing day-to-day. Android might be top only kana uchiverenga ma-salad vanogara kuma “dales” (Avondale, Borrowdale etc). But for the rest of the MAJORITY, Nokia ndizvo.Not Windows Phone Nokias necessarily, but they do still hold on to their Zim throne with the basic phones. You can’t talk about “demise” yet- its too early. Windows Phone’s roll out was always meant to be a top-down exercise. From high end phones and then filtering down to low end devices. Android on the other hand did NOT begin with high spec devices. They were all low or mid range. I remember my first android was the Samsung i5700 Glaxy Spica – in the early days of android. It was only the second Samsung android phone, and was not positioned as a high end premium device. Samsung’s official flagship was the i8910 Omnia HD which ran SYMBIAN! And all the other high-enders had the old Windows Mobile. Windows Phone’s launch devices however – were slightly more high end. The low end stuff has only begun rolling out very recently, and its doing pretty well. Lumia 620 has done quite well. That Lumia 521 which you said was piloted on the home shopping network has gone on to sell out AGAIN Walmart. Demise? I THINK NOT! The roll out is still in progress, so it extremely premature to call it at this point.
I feel your pain but smartphones are the future. Symbian 40 phones are not going to last.
l was a nokia high end phone user for almost 10years and l dont regret that my last nokia phone is n8.
lm nomadic when it comes to tech. lm enjoying samsung note ll bt keeping any open mind and eye on Ubuntu phone.
I have a Nokia Lumia 820 its really smart and appealing. Yes to a certain extent I agree with your argument. The idea of using windows was good as they were trying something new. Windows isn’t bad. It would seem there is a technological gap in Zimbabwe not to have Nokia accessories, there are lots of of cheap entry level Nokia phones available – the ashas. Its only that zhingaz too much that’s why zim lag behind.
What a pointless article…
Seems as though your article was written from the point of view of the Zimbabwean smartphone market which isn’t that big to begin with. Worldwide, it seems as though shipments of Windows 8 phones are increasing and to dismiss Nokia the way you did is definitely jumping the gun. Plus I doubt you wrote this objectively. Your writing smacks of Android fanboy-ism
Nokia are onto something with the Lumia 920 (which, btw, is going to be my next phone). It looks great, the tile interface is amazing and they’ve even made the effort to include an app to make synchronisation with iTunes easier. Looking around and reading a few reviews on the internet shows I’m not the only one that thinks so.
I am not saying you are alone: I simply said there at the top now they are not. For all it’s worth I hope Nokia bounces back for the sake of competition.
This a completely biased report ,being an owner of a nokia 620 and samsung galaxy nexus ,the 620 looks and feels more like a well built phone than anything Samsung,HTC,Sony has on the market for the same price range showing that even in the lower price margin Nokia still can deliver (like always) without cutting many corners. 1GHz Snapdragon S4 Plus beats away, with a bright 3.8-inch ClearBack display beaming out a 800 x 480 resolution. ,the only argument that might be true at this moment is the poor app selection on the app market for WP8 which was caused mainly by the lack of continuity in the OS from WP7.5/7.8 to WP8 where apps built for the WP7.X platform cant run on WP8 and the sometime irritating lack of basic customisation.BUT Nokia got the hardware right the apps will ALWAYS come
You may be right about the specs. I simply said Nokia lost some market share. They used to the market leaders now they are not. Meanwhile Android is gaining market share and are now set to be the leaders led by Samsung.
Android is gaining market share windows is gaining market share only its faster.Who is losing black berry and Apple so what problem is there for NOKIA.
Actually, all WP7 apps will run on WP8. But apps built for WP8 natively will not run on WP7.
Dear author one question, if android is the route to success, why are Sony, HTC, Motorola, LG or any other OEM not selling as much as Samsung? Look at their figures, they don’t even sell one seventh as much as Samsung does. So what happened to the ‘Android is savior rule?’. And for your information, Lumia sales have increased in every quarter (Exception q3 2012 for obvious reasons). Why did you not mention this and why are you blaming Windows Phone 8 while Symbian sales have been falling? Finally you are talking about risking Blackberry? Dear friend, look at Blackberry’s sales (6 million last quarter), they are selling less than Nokia (6.1 million). You need to open your eyes to see what is happening.
Android is the savior but not the Panacea. It is a preferable ingredient but not the only one. It is flour to making bread but all the mentioned manufacturers are selling it as dough-unprocessed, without responding to market feedback or the other essential ingredients.
And why is WP not? So far no OEM other than Nokia has invested in it. Nokia has not failed or succeeded, but you have claimed they have failed with WP. Now my question is how do you say WP was where the fault was? Maybe Nokia did not respond to market feedback (read Symbian) and maybe they would not have done that with android either?
Admittedly there is no way of telling. Ceteris Paribus I feel(this is an educated opinion and you are free to make one of your own) Nokia could have leveraged its market share to introduce Android devices for the low end market. Android is familiar and has been around for a while now. No one has really taken Windows mobile seriously apart from fringe buyers.
Nobody took Apple iPhone seriously except the fringe buyers – in the beginning. It took 10 quarters to get to 6M devices/Q. Funny, Nokia has been in WP market about 9 quarters now and is pushing about the same volume… hmmmmmmm
Didnt you hear what I said.They release android then they lose the support from microsoft and wont get any money from them.nOKIA WOULD ALSO LOSE money researching and developing Android and these android models will cannbalise the Windows Phone market and their top windows phone models goes boom.Yes its true few people used windows phone before nokia introduced it and look now the tremendus growth its having.
Yes no one has taken it seriously except microsoft and HTC fans but now many including the large fans nokia plus the a huge part of mainstream smartphone buyers.There is begenning to everything and end to everything.
You will have to make a new definition for the word “obsolete” so that it can be used to call win phone 8.
Hell even win phone 7.5/7.8 is not obsolete
Obsolete is when your UI is just a rehash of previous versions of other pple’s software. UI in WP’s case means Unusable Interface. Imagine a UI without a good battery indicator.
Rehash of whose software can you explain.tHE ANDROID ITSELF IS A SHAMELESS copy of IOS.The whole metro language design of which tiles originated from Zune HD players software which is a Microsoft product. U say it doesn’t have battery indicator well u can have the option of dedicating one huge tile exclusively for battery indication this is better than the android indicator.
Of cource tile interface is unusable if YOU DONT KNOW HOW TO USE IT.
Clearly never used a Windows Phone.
Unbelievable that someone is actually writing this down. It’s pure misinformation. Trolling belongs in the comments section, not in the article itself!
I find the assumptions and conclusions in this article to be the kind of material I say would expect from someone who is only casually familiar with Nokia.
The reduction in units sold was primarily in the feature phone segment, and smartphone volumes and ASPs are the main reason that the sharp drop in feature phone sales hasn’t resulted in a catastrophic loss in profit.
Windows Phone is increasing share worldwide and even in the US, with 1.4% increase between February and March according to Kantar. It is growing faster than iPhone did the first two years it was available.
Your coverage of other reviewers’ feedback is decidedly hand picked – there are hundreds of positive reviews that diametrically contradict your reviewers’. That, or your (perceptibly inadequate) research was too cursory to find a sufficiently comprehensive cross-section.
If Windows Phone license fees are so much of an inhibition, how is Nokia selling the Windows Phone 8 Lumia 521 through WalMart for $130 without a contract? You mention this device as a “pilot” but it is in full production in multiple countries worldwide already selling the devices… It’s not a “pilot,” it’s a fundamental rung in their ladder! You on one hand say “Fast forward to 2013 and the affordable phones are all but gone” but later acknowledge their lowest end smartphone… Maybe you could proofread your articles once you have completed them?
Android phones may be “free” to license (with legal strings as a catch), but the hardware required to have a comparable experience leaves price-compatible Android handsets out of the running. Windows Phone 8 just doesn’t need the same amount of power to provide the user a very positive experience. I see comments all the time from budget Android users that complain about the experience.
“It seems with their shunning of budget phones they have also decided to hold back on support and accessories.” Really?? Nokia is one of the best accessorized brands out there – there are quite a number of OEM accessories, and third party accessories that are available even before some phones have been announced!! (Google “nokia 928 accessories”).
Nokia should NOT join the Android bandwagon, where only Samsung is turning a profit. The platform requires more compute power to deliver the same experience, there are uncertainties about the code as patent cases can affect the cost or even availability of Android, which has been repeatedly found infringing. The carriers want an alternative that makes the duopoly of Apple and Google/Samsung come to the table to negotiate. Windows Phone 8 corporate/enterprise capabilities, Windows 8 adoption & development, Win8 tablets, and a bunch of other factors will combine to continue to fuel the brand, the OS, and the ecosystem.
Nokia *IS* Windows Phone right now. They failed to produce a home-grown competitor to Apple, and by “outsourcing” OS development to MS, they can focus on what they are truly best at – world-class hardware and customer support.
I’m not saying WP8 will explode – even the iPhone took time to really take off – longer than Windows Phone has, anyway. But it will indeed erode the share of the two big boys, and they probably won’t notice as they continue to scrap with one another.
You may be right about the increase in Lumia shipments from the previous quarter as compared with the current quarter, however my assertion was that the MS licence model might close out the less rich. I am skeptical about the so called unsubsided model which is selling for around $150. I have a feeling it is subsided by the manufacturer themselves as compared to the tradition where it is subsided by the operator. I could be wrong but in the event that I am right it would not be a sustainable. I am not saying Nokia will disappear as you have pointed out they are still very much in the game. My fear is that they are at the crossroads and if they take the wrong road they would end up at RIM.
I don’t think that Nokia is in a position to offer a model with negative return, unless maybe Microsoft were helping out – which is a possibility. But I tend to believe more that Nokia’s experience in mass production and efficiencies, global parts suppliers, and other institutional knowledge, drives the ability to produce a good phone at a competitive cost.
Personally, I think that Nokia would have gone the road of BBRY if they continued down the road of trying to build their own OS and ecosystem. I don’t have confidence that – given the leadership of Nokia at the time – they would have been able to produce, evolve, maintain, and grow both an OS and an ecosystem.
There are many Nokia loyalists from “the Olde Nokia” that disagree, and think that Nokia could have pulled it off with Meego/Maemo. But I don’t think they were agile enough, from the top down.
Now, however, I see real evidence that they are getting lean and responsive. The fact that they are attacking all price points and markets globally, while BB is high-end only and their most anticipated device is still not even available in the US, points to the difference in strategy.
This should be a joke of you people discussing a possibility of Nokia selling Lumia 521 at a loss.No manufactures sell phones at a loss.they might reduce their profit margin but not at pure loss.Look at the specs of Lumia 520 its low end enough to be sold at at $150 or $160 (depends which country).
As opposed to iOS 1.6.1? Where is the innovation and evolution there? Talk about obsolete…
I don’t own any Nokia smartphone, not a fan of WP, but can’t help laugh at this stupid biased article.
Troll Bait Alert!!!
Actually margins are not tight in the smartphone business. Apple which is the king of margins makes 60-70% margin per phone, hence why every phone maker is trying to muscle into the smartphone space. Android margins are much less but definitely in the double digit range. And yes Lumia/Windows market share is actually rising. My problem with the article is that you took a personal observation at a micro-level and insubstantially extrapolated to the global scale. If you simply wanted to express an opinion about Windows I think if you had said so it would have absolved the bias coz as a blogger you have every right to express your bias
Oh bless, you just have no idea at all do you?
Guys the bottom line is nokia has not made a mistake it all about the money.
They have a market to bad its not us casual users but the business users.
How many non tech professionals wouldn’t mind having the same OS on their desktop/laptop and mobile or tablet. Considering windows is the no 1 desktop OS.
Plus Microsoft has ties with many large corporates. Meaning they could easily push millions of nokia handsets with out breaking a sweat.
Avoiding the flaming and fanboism, both Nokia and Microsoft decided to partner at a time when both were overtaken by the smartphone disruption. In the end, they saved each other.
– Microsoft had ignored placing itself in this new market and had no viable point of entry
– Nokia had also been overconfident and was too slow to adjust to the new (touch-based) smartphone frenzy.
So Microsoft offered the development and R & D capacity, and Nokia offered the brand reach.
Both got saved.
Looking at financial history and projected demise of Nokia, its position today has more chance of growth than it was if it had totally gone on it alone.
So whilst the figures are low and the consumer market is focused on the iPhone and Android platforms, there’s still room and time. I agree with many that believe Microsoft had an excellent opportunity to put a foot in the door by creating office applications for both iOS and Android. But they chose to stall that and prioritised the Surface and Windows 8 platform
IMHO, the Lumia is a good bargain for the features in it, especially for a first-time-smart-phone-owner but for the rest of us who have been exposed to the iPhone and the Android platform, its harder to move. The experiences are totally different. Windows is less traditional to what iPhone and Android had established as a norm
Finally someone with some sense.
Great information. some useful Interesting Facts about Nokia to share
PS: There are NO phones running on Windows 8 as your article suggests.
I’ve actually seen a few people using WP phones locally. I myself use one. As far as Nokia jumping on the Android “bandwagon,” I’m not sure how that’d help them as that “bandwagon” is already crowded. Look at HTC, they have competitive, impressive hardware and yet they’ve been plagued losses just like NOKIA.
Technology + Zimbabwe
couldnt have though of a better Oxymoron if i tried
Go figure out how to end Human Rights abuses than bashing Nokia and Windows Phone 8
I lost at Windows 8 and Android is free, .
All this hypersensitive reaction from people, in response to a guy expressing a pretty well-reasoned opinion analyzing Nokia’s current position in the smartphone market, is just infantile. The market facts are the market facts. Nokia’s market share is waning; clearly the status quo is not working, and its strategy needs to change. Business is business; don’t get emotional about it, or take it personally. Having this fanatical allegiance to companies and their tech, akin to the fervor fans feel for sports teams, is simply absurd. Really, some of you guys need to go discover women, or find a non-tech hobby, or something.