Nokia versus Android and Apple
It’s been a rough 18 months for Nokia: bland, underwhelming handsets and a smartphone portfolio that simply could not compete with high-end devices.
The onslaught from Apple and (Google) Android has been fierce. And as applications, games and services become more pervasive, especially at the high-end, Nokia’s smartphone market share has slowly eroded. It was, not too long ago, the market leader.
New Nokia CEO Stephen Elop took the helm at Nokia in September last year, and time was running out.
Wednesday will be remembered as the third major event in Elop’s 13 months at the company. The first, his infamous burning platform memo penned just months after joining.
The second was the February 11 announcement that Nokia would exclusively use Microsoft’s Windows Phone software in a broad and deep alliance between the two giants.
Eight short months after that announcement, at its Nokia World event, the company Wednesday unveiled two new high-end (what it terms “smart”) devices running Windows Phone.
The first, the Lumia 800, was expected. Persistent leaks meant Nokia could simply not keep the lid on this flagship device. It’s the N9 (which itself launched just weeks ago), with a few tiny cosmetic changes and the power of Windows Phone.
Nokia Lumia 800
The N9 was a beautiful phone. And the use of “was” is deliberate. It’s a non-phone, if that is even possible. It runs the MeeGo operating system that has practically reached a dead-end. This means there are few apps available, and not many coming anytime soon.
But the hardware and industrial design is right up there with the best in the world, Apple. The Nokia Lumia 800 means this great phone has a future. The Windows Phone platform is far richer, with a growing ecosystem and decent app catalogue.
With Nokia’s scale, Windows Phone now becomes a viable third operating system (alongside Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android).
Elop says it was as important what we left out of Lumia devices as what was put in.
“This is the first ever phone that embodies, complements and amplifies Windows Phone”, going as far as calling it the “First real Windows Phone.”
The Lumia 800 will launch in key European markets (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands) in November and will retail for €420 excluding any taxes or subsidies (≈R4 000). This price puts it firmly in the iPhone’s league, although not quite as pricey.
Thereafter it will roll out in additional markets. Although no official plans have been announced, it is likely the Lumia 800 will be available in South Africa in the first quarter of next year.
While the Lumia 800 made the headlines, the second smartphone announced by Nokia, the Lumia 710 is arguably the bigger deal: A smartphone with a price tag of €270.
This equates to a retail price of around R3 000 (excluding taxes and subsidies) and this translates to roughly R199-R249 a month on a 24-month contract. It has all the same services at the Lumia 800, with a slightly lower-spec camera and processor. The speed difference is not noticeable.
Nokia has got the integration of its hardware with the Windows Phone software spot on. It’s fluid, snappy and, to borrow a phrase made famous by Apple’s Steve Jobs and used in Nokia’s keynote, “it just works”.
Nokia has layered three services on top of Windows Phone 7 which will differentiate its phones from any devices from competitors using the operating system.
Nokia Drive, an improvement on its Maps, offers full voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation. Competing services are pricey and more often than not only available on subscription.
Nokia Music offers access to 15m songs and pre-selected “radio” stations, including an offline mode which temporarily stores music on the phone. And it’s working with ESPN on an integrated app with unrivalled depth in sports coverage. There’s all the standard WP7 features too, including Office and Xbox Live.
The snowball effect with Nokia’s support for Windows Phone means more market share, more mindshare, more apps, more innovation.
It’s now a race to get these phones to market. Armed with a war chest from Microsoft (rumoured to be around $1bn), it has to market like it hasn’t marketed before. It has to build buzz, make its products desirable and brand cool again.
Elop calls it “significant marketing and investment”, three times more “compared to any other single Nokia launch in history”.
It’s hard to determine which of Microsoft and Nokia needed the other more. But this might just work out to be a win-win for both– something that’s hardly ever the case in an alliance such as this.
Nokia is back in the game.
Can it stay in it?
*Hilton Tarrant travelled to Nokia World in London as a guest of Nokia.
Source: Moneyweb
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