Winner's view. Reaching the masses is the way forward

A decade ago, Nokia was synonymous with mobile phones in India. But for the past five years it has been continuously losing market share. After Nokia was bought-out by Microsoft, an event which took place a couple of years after Nokia shifted from Symbian OS to Windows OS, the some observations are apparent. Microsoft and Nokia are not just in competition with other manufacturers but with Google too, on the devices and solutions frontier.

The opportunity that Microsoft now has is to blend hardware and software in new ways, reach new markets, and take advantage of Nokia’s patent portfolio. This leads Microsoft with its two objectives: Growth of Nokia’s smartphone category and penetration of Windows OS for phones and devices. Nevertheless, the primary target is focusing on the second goal.

Free versions With Android gaining popularity amongst consumers and developers alike, Microsoft’s strategy of offering free Windows OS will boost demand and increase its penetration, leading to a competition with Android. The attempt is to enhance developer interest in order to come out with more applications for the platforms. Even reduction in licensing fees for OEMs should be considered to augment presence. The funding? Yes, it definitely needs to be backed by sources of revenue from Microsoft’s apps and services such as Skype and Office, apart from the ads on Windows 8. This is definitely going to take care of the long-term expectations that Microsoft holds for Windows Phone.

Seamless integration Microsoft has an unbeatable advantage over Apple or Android in the arena of the recent mobile revolution. As we know, we do not want our valuable information to be present in bits and pieces across multiple platforms and devices.

The seamless integration with Windows 8.1 and Office 365 for the enterprise and Xbox for consumers is probably the next big thing in mobile revolution.

The aforementioned advances and potential are all in sync with the “One Microsoft” initiated by Steve Ballmer. “One Microsoft” hopes to see product line holistically, not as a set of islands. It plans to allocate resources, and build devices and services that provides a compelling, integrated experiences across the many screens in our lives.

With the recent addition of Nokia handsets business into the portfolio, the vision is now to gain a leadership position in the mobile market. very soon.

The Nokia Lumia Series India is Nokia’s second largest market but the company’s revenues have declined by 25 per cent since 2010. Moreover, Nokia had to transform from a ‘product company’ to a ‘services company’ long ago. The recent launch of Lumia 1020 with the 41megapixel camera to target the upmarket segment is definitely laudable.

However, the need of the hour is to increase the penetration of Windows OS through affordable smartphones from Nokia. With the rapid shift of consumers from feature phones to smartphones in emerging countries such as India, Microsoft needs to be proactive to roll out highly competitive models of Nokia Lumia Windows Phones to regain its lost glory in the highly sensitive Indian smartphone market.

Work on app store Some of the other recommendations to start working upon are follows:

First, with Android phones available at very cheap prices, it is imperative to launch low-cost models of Windows OS (probably with limited facilities and apps) to promote Windows phones amongst the larger customer base.

Second, enhancing the Apps Store by selling the apps dream to developers. A device is nothing if relevant apps are unavailable. The smartphone industry is all about hardware-software-app ecosystems.

Third, to pose stiff competition to Android as a desirable OS for phones, it is important that Microsoft starts strategising to capture the ‘late majority’ customer base for smartphones in India (current penetration stands at 15 per cent and the shift rate from feature phones to smartphones is high).

(Vipul is pursuing an MBA at Delhi University's Faculty of Management Studies.)