Nokia, a name synonymous
with cell phones, quality and durability !! Oh wait !! That was 5-6 years ago,
today its a company associated with the dead Symbian OS, desperately trying to
survive , collaborating with Microsoft and searching some foothold to stand
back again.
Well, that was a time when the world focused on mobile as a means of voice communication. In emerging markets like India, the use of cell phones was slowly beginning to grow. Consumers wanted phones which were sturdy and easy to use and Nokia dominated this market.
With the advent of smartphones this changed. The focus changed from voice to data. User experience, design, graphics, internet driven applications, portability became the driving force behind the industry. Apple and Google's Andriod platforms came up with huge number of applications creating an ecosystem which helped them thrive. Samsung, Sony and other major players realized this trend and quickly shifted to the android platform. In India, a number of small local players like Micromax, Karbonn came up and in the growing market could easily establish themselves.
Decreasing Market Share as Smarphone usage Increased
Nokia’s business was booming in the mid 2000s,
with massive profits and phone shipments keeping their shareholders happy
and clamoring for more of the same. But this success evidently made
it harder for them to change their business. They have always been great
with hardware but software is what they lacked. Due to their phone first view
they could not realize the full effect of what was happening around them. They
aim was to keep on producing mid-range feature phones with a little bit extra
and that is what Symbian could provide. While it was trying to fix Symbian
the trends passed by it.
The had
the size, capital, market presence and brand name to win it all back. However,
their acts were too little too late. Also, their strategies were not well
thought and long term. They made Symbian open source trying to attract the
developers. Then they tried Maemo/MeeGo development as an alternative platform but that failed
too. Their current attempt is to create Windows phones in tie up with
Microsoft.
The
latest Lumia phones have been a little respite to the failing Nokia. However,
its not significant enough to promise a bright future. They need to step back
and analyze the market trends. A big company like them cannot survive with
small changes and innovations. They need to focus on innovation; they need
something big, something revolutionary. Leaving their risk averse approach,
they need to surprise the world.
Looking
at this gloomy picture a possible silver lining comes to mind. With Google
buying Motorola Mobility, Apple having the iPhone, Microsoft might think of a
dedicated hardware platform for its Windows phones. To compete with the leaders
Microsoft could and probably should try to acquire this ailing Finnish firm. It
would remove their dependency from the hardware and give them a new road to
progress upon. With Nokia's CEO, Stephen Elop being ex-Business Head of Microsoft and the one under whose leadership Lumia is launched with Windows, this might be the next thing on the cards.
What
the future holds for Nokia is a lot uncertain!! Will it be taken over, will it
rise or is it too tale and will just perish remains to be seen.
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