Nokia was the only brand one heard of in the early 2000’s and that continued for more than half a decade. But what went wrong with the mobile giant over the last five years? What made such Nokia fail? What really made Nokia rush into such huge losses? Let’s look into it.
FAILURE OF SYMBIAN OS AND RISE OF ANDROID
Nokia launched its Symbian 60 series in year 2002 which initially had a good market response but when Android OS was made Open Source in 2008, Nokia was taken off the market in developing countries like India. With Android OS brands such as Samsung, HTC and Sony found new roots to extend their market in smart phone segment. Nokia tried to join the party with Windows OS but by then it was quite late.
Samsung was able to convert its portfolio to smartphones while Nokia failed to do so. The bet Nokia made many years ago – that there would be a continuing substantial business in the “low end” failed.
Also whatever products Nokia had in the smartphone segment lacked innovation. Even if users could ignore the OS, the hardware features which Nokia was rolling out were quite late as compared to its major competitor, Samsung.
Where Nokia was losing the game in high end phones, the competition from Micromax, Lava and Karbonn squeezed the company’s market share in the lower segment. This led to a double trouble. The company, which once had epic models like Nokia 1100, suddenly started losing at lower ends. Its only lately that Nokia realised this and has launched its Asha series. But by the time Asha was launched Nokia had already lost the game.
NOKIA’S VALUE PROPOSITION
iPhones are often considered the most prestigious while Samsung’s Android phones are often seen as the most versatile. But Nokia’s phones aren’t connected to anything special. They have now tried to create an idea of superior phone cameras. But that’s too little too late. Also, unlike Apple’s iphone and Samsung’s Galaxy series Nokia failed to effectively build an umbrella brand with N series and recently launched Lumia.
Nokia faces the same old problem of inadequate app eco system. With Windows, the issue is not about having “enough” apps, but, rather, a matter of “when” and their quality. There are already a number of great photo editing apps, productivity apps, note-taking apps, and games available on Windows. iOS and Android get the best apps first and sometimes exclusively, but that’s not to say Windows is lacking anything substantial. It is just a matter of looking for the equivalent on the other side.
THE ROAD AHEAD
The first point to consider, before commenting on what Microsoft should do to promote Windows mobile operating system or how should it increase sales of ‘Nokia’, is why in the first place Microsoft bought Nokia. What are the benefits that Microsoft draws from Nokia?
Windows phone is a platform hindered by poor word of mouth and Microsoft’s lack of updates. However, Nokia’s hardware execution is, on par with Apple, Samsung and HTC. We are hopeful that Nokia will have a positive influence on Microsoft and force the company to take its mobile OS seriously. And we also believe that Microsoft will be able to leverage brand ‘Nokia’ to promote its Windows mobile OS.
Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 may have metro-style Start screens, but that is where the similarities end. Microsoft needs to split Windows 8 into proper phone and desktop OS and have to work on unifying the experiences between its mobile and desktop platforms to make adoption easier on users. Microsoft needs to come up with a clear value proposition and build a strong umbrella brand to put its marketing strategy in place. To solve the problem of Laggard App Eco system Microsoft needs to give API access to developers for bringing apps in time, parallel with iOS and Android.
In the low end category Nokia needs to do segmentation on the basis of features and then hit the right price points rather than doing it vice-versa. Nokia needs to come up with cheap smartphones with better functionality in order to compete with the likes of Karbonn and Micromax. Dual sim is a huge segment that has so far been completely ignored by Nokia. Microsoft needs to launch dual sim phones with Windows OS either under Lumia or create a new umbrella brand.
Well, there is a very simple relation, in fact, correlation working here between Nokia and Windows OS – if Nokia grows Windows grows and if Windows grows Nokia grows. Thus, neither can grow in isolation. Microsoft has to work on both Nokia and Windows together.
(The author is pursuing an MBA at Delhi University’s Faculty of Management Studies.)