Microsoft’s and Nokia’s malady is similar; both have been dethroned from the realms they once ruled.
Recently, Samsung overtook Nokia in terms of market share. According to netmarketshare.com, Microsoft, though being the market leader for desktop OS as of May 2013 with market share of 91.67 per cent, its No 3 position for smartphone OS is somewhat unnerving for the Redmond-based software giant. With the 10-year hitch between device manufacturer and software provider, the Microsoft management will look to capitalise the deal by regaining their lost ground.
According to IDC, Google’s open source Android OS is ruling the charts with over 90 per cent of all smartphones sold in India being Android-based. Nokia having burnt its fingers with open source OS in the form of Symbian, its safe bet is to stick to Windows Phone 8, thus increasing cost.
As of December 22, there are 1,40,123 apps in the Windows Store. This is miniscule in comparison with the 10, 03,903 apps available on Android. Likewise, according to
PROMOTING VERTICAL ECOSYSTEM
Synchronising Windows phones, laptops, tablets and phablets in a single ecosystem for seamless interoperability, should be done first.This integration strategy will make the tasks faster and also increase the adaptability. One Microsoft Vision is an attempt which envisions a truly unified OS experience across your phone, tablet, notebook, desktop PC, and TV.
Through this deal Microsoft paid Nokia € 3.79 billion for its devices and services business, and another €1.65 billion for broad intellectual property licence. Nokia which had spend lavishly about $55 billion for the last two decades on R&D, would no longer have to fret over copyrights infringements. This deal, brings hardware and software under a single roof.
CREATING A SPECIFIC VALUE PROPOSITION
Nokia’s marketing strategy has been inconsistent with regards to the value proposition of the product. Like rival companies, Nokia has not been able to portray brand appreciation or a clear idea as to why the customers should go for it. Thus, we need a clear and focused proposition that would make Nokia stand out from others.
Nearly 50 per cent of the companies in India have security policies that prohibit bringing you own devices, as it has caused many security breaches. Thus, the use of a standardised equipment (which includes laptops, mobiles, tablets) in an organisation would benefit them. We could leverage upon this fact by offering to be the communication partner to these organisations, resulting in an increase in market presence.
APPLICATION DISCOVERY
Increase in the number of applications with more innovations and user demands would enhance the sales of Windows phones. It needs to be consumer-centric by keeping the core technical resources common. Also, with Xbox, we could aim at providing multiplayer online games with cross functionality across various verticals. Customer attitude plays significant role in consumer behaviour, therefore it is a potentially useful device for improving products, redesigning packages, developing and assessing promotional programmes. Thus, a research on customer attitude for demand generation is essential.
Interdependencies require transparency of performance and functionalities, however it may also cause confusion, delay and complexity. Thus, reducing these interdependencies between various departments of the two companies, would result in freedom of performance, proper and optimised functioning of all departments. Also, as the organisation culture of the two companies differ, we should allow Nokia, to function according to its customer centric culture rather than enforcing ours.
It should incentivise the application developers to transfer the applications(licences), build on a different platforms (other than windows) to the windows platform. Also, gain the allegiance of software developers to produce more applications.
(The authors are pursuing a PGDM at SIES College of Management Studies, Navi Mumbai.)