I’ve had a long history with Nokia, on a personal level (with their handsets) and professionally too. So, personally, yes, I would love to see the Finnish giant stage a comeback, from the deep vicious self-dig hole, they have gotten themselves into, these last few years. From being the global leader that they were to turning into a second grade citizen, its been a journey, they’d wish would end soon. Its been more of a humiliation than anything else. We shall not get into what got Nokia into the sh*t they are now in. But will rather focus on current developments amidst the Nokia World Conference, London that just concluded. Earlier this year, NOKIA entered into a partnership with Microsoft to develop WP7 smartphones, choosing Microsoft’s Mobile Platform as the road ahead (and killing its troubled Meego platform). And there had since been much curiosity as to what would the combined forces of Nokia’s proven hardware lineup and Microsoft’s promising Mobile platform come out with. Well, out they came with first two WP7 phones running on NOKIA’s hardware -- LUMIA 800 and LUMIA 710.
The two phones are okay specs wise (not quite a Nexus or an iPhone). Have a good design, body and finish, and run WP7 Mango of course. Core Nokia Apps -- Drive and Music are integrated into the phones. Running WP7 also means they will be able to utilize the Mobile version of the Office Software suits from Microsoft. They are priced a little moderately $585 and $375 for Lumia 800 and 710 respectively. That is pretty much the highlights. The new devices launched today- Lumia are pretty much a spin off from the acclaimed N9. Among also ran, they announced a whole bunch of emerging market phones in Asha series with the marketing tag as ‘bring internet to a billion more people’. Whatever !
NOKIA have decided to first release the LUMIA series in the European market and then later in East. As for the US market, they want to enter late (2012) and enter strategically. Fair enough. Its better to enter the US market having done their homework than make a splash and go unnoticed. When NOKIA do enter the US market, they should be clear headed about whose market share they are after. Comon sense says it should be RIM first, and then a calculated attack on Android. iPhone segment is a stabilized and loyal one. But then again, competing against Android means taking its flagship devices like S II and Galaxy Nexus head on. Which in turn calls for a self upgrade for NOKIA because based purely on the current specs for LUMIA, they donot quite stand equals before Android. NOKIA, it seems have decided not to give up on their feature phone segment, notwithstanding the meager margin in that segment. But NOKIA have to understand that, the world is fast moving towards a smartphone only direction. So, while its okay to still invest in the feature segment as of today, NOKIA must plan a phased withdrawal from it. Btw, what’s with these nos -- 710 !
Whether or not the new LUMIA phones catch consumer interest is something to be seen, but the initial hardware design and SW integration seems good. I was watching Stephen Elop talk on innovation a few days back with some valley exec. and for once he did sound like he meant a few words he said. Turning things around should not be a herculean effort for the Nordic giant, with right strategies in place. NOKIA have to make some clear, concise decisions going ahead -- about feature phones (a segment that is bound to die sooner than later), the US market, specs of the models they want to pitch against Android. One would love to see NOKIA stage a comeback, hoping that the just concluded Nokia World was just a right step in the right direction. On a different note, there were some crazy new prototypes seen at the event -- a flexible body smartphone (the video below). Things like these show that innovation is still alive at the tech giant.
I can be reached at vikashbitmesra@gmail.com. My Twitter feed here.
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