For Nokia, Microsoft may be the window to future

Nokia under Microsoft could emerge as the biggest turnaround story if the new owners leverage its existing strengths and build new capabilities, according to analysts.

“Microsoft will leverage the legacy that it has inherited from Nokia which is a recognised and well accepted brand here in India. Microsoft will look towards creating a model that harnesses Nokia’s brand equity and integrate and innovate their best features in the current and future device launches,” said Manasi Yadav, Senior Market Analyst — mobile phones and tablets at IDC India.

In India, Nokia clearly is one of the strongest brands and lot of people are going back to the brand because of emotional attachment.

Focus area “Nokia brand won’t die because they are present in every nook or corner in India even for a battery or a charger just like Maruti Suzuki India has services for cars,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst, Greyhound Research. One of the key things to watch out for will be Microsoft’s strategy on the devices. While smartphones will be the focus area for Microsoft as a brand – it would be interesting to see if they still want to maintain the Asha legacy of devices as these have helped Nokia garner huge volumes in the past.

“Both the brands have been aggressive in their respective domains. The problem is where they marry. That area has to be made rich in products, which will automatically trigger the aggressiveness. Otherwise, without offerings, there can be no aggressiveness,” said Faisal Kawoosa, Lead Telecom Analyst at CyberMedia Research.

In addition to aggressiveness in products, Microsoft will have to work towards becoming more aggressive in terms of marketing and launching schemes that can make devices more affordable for the larger audience.

But, there could be some problem emerging once the feature phones segment doesn’t translate into huge volumes and if at the same time, Nokia does not have a befitting market proposition while the smartphone emerges big in the country.

Smartphone segment “I have serious doubts whether it will shape into a strong contender in the future. The problem I see is what Nokia is really getting out of this deal? What it wants is a strong proposition within smartphone segment and does Microsoft partnering only suffice it. Definitely No,” said Kawoosa, adding that Microsoft will have to showcase some products that take the market by surprise.

“I think the focus would be around ‘Smart+’ trend, to add smartness to various devices, gadgets and equipment. However, a breakthrough would be if they are able to convince ODMs first and then the consumers that Windows is smart devices operating system. Another way of achieving this is to come out with entirely different operating system for smart devices,” said Kawoosa.