Nokia's Board: Asleep at the wheel

[+LogicalApex MVC]

Bankruptcy is almost certain now for Nokia without further large payments from Microsoft, the $250mn payments they've been making per quarter and no where near enough to stave off bankruptcy. Why would Nokia have hit bankruptcy if it had gone for Android? Adopting Android makes sales soar a lot of the time e.g. Samsung.

And everyone here uses HTC as a poster child to attack OEMs using Android, but HTC was the OEM that dumped Windows Mobile and adopted Android first and as a result became a mainstream OEM. HTC has had a string on bad management decisions and sub-par phones, that's why they are having difficulty. Samsung has shown how successful Android done right can be.Also for whatever reason HTC's Android offerings sell a lot better than their WP offerings ever do or did.

If this were the early days of Android I would agree with you that Nokia could be very successful with Android. The reality is we're far from those early days and Samsung is entrenched as the defacto Android OEM. Samsung is well over 50% of the Android market! That creates a lot of competition for scraps by every other OEM out there.

Nokia made a wise choice to go WP as they need a platform that allows them to standout among consumers and not have any bone crushing competition at the outset. It just doesn't make sense for Nokia to take Samsung on directly in their state. This is what the talking heads seem to ignore.

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

Nokia made a wise choice to go WP as they need a platform that allows them to standout among consumers and not have any bone crushing competition at the outset. It just doesn't make sense for Nokia to take Samsung on directly in their state. This is what the talking heads seem to ignore.

Tell me more about these unique WP8 devices:

Nokia can't just survive on trying to "be unique", because inevitably the others will follow suit, just ask Apple how butthurt they are about the fact that most smartphones now resemble iPhones. That is a risk for companies with cash to spare. Nokia need to focus on putting out reliable, trustworthy hardware and putting faith back in the brand. Making them look like a safe bet. Windows Phone is still unproven to be a market success, and it's hardly a surprise that a lot of execs and analysts are nervous about their future.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

Tell me more about these unique WP8 devices:

<snipped>

Nokia can't just survive on trying to "be unique", because inevitably the others will follow suit, just ask Apple how butthurt they are about the fact that most smartphones now resemble iPhones. That is a risk for companies with cash to spare. Nokia need to focus on putting out reliable, trustworthy hardware and putting faith back in the brand. Making them look like a safe bet. Windows Phone is still unproven to be a market success, and it's hardly a surprise that a lot of execs and analysts are nervous about their future.

I wasn't talking solely about the look and feel of Nokia devices. As I mentioned, Samsung dominates the Android market. They sell more than 50% of the Android devices and make over 90% of the profits in the Android OEM space. Nokia needed to be in a position where they weren't going up against a competitor such as Samsung with very little room to differentiate themselves.

HTC isn't a dominating force in the WP space and Samsung is preoccupied with Android. Nokia has a chance with this choice. How well it will play out will be determined in the future, but there is room for three ecosystems in mobile, and possibly more.

[yowanvista]

Nokia should really consider Android, they can produce perfect hardware and Android would be the right choice if they 'tweaked' it according to their needs, i.e a Nokia launcher/UI with bundled Nokia services along with pureview. The result would be a device significantly different from the average droid. They don't really any contingency plan if WP fails.

[~Johnny]

I personally would like to see both WP and Android from them.

Nokia don't have the software chops for it. Nokia has always had a habit of releasing phones with unfinished or broken software (the N9 somewhat got mostly by that by being delayed - though the Lumia 800 certainly did not_. I'd rather they didn't stretch themselves more than they need too and focus on creating a great product. Most of the market doesn't give a monkey what OS it's running, they just want something worth using - and the investment is smaller with Windows Phone.

[jakem1]

How are they different software-wise from Samsung's or HTC's WPs? The answer is very little,

You're clearly not aware of what Nokia have been doing with WP. They're differentiating from other OEMs through software and services as well as superior hardware design. The strategy's working for them because they've become the largest WP OEM in a small period of time.

[thealexweb]

You're clearly not aware of what Nokia have been doing with WP. They're differentiating from other OEMs through software and services as well as superior hardware design. The strategy's working for them because they've become the largest WP OEM in a small period of time.

I'm well aware of Nokia Maps, Lens and their other apps, but would that stuff really sway someone to buy a Nokia over a different WP? The answer is no, Windows Phone can only really compete on hardware.

[ichi]

The strategy's working for them because they've become the largest WP OEM in a small period of time.

The largest OEM for an OS that pretty much no one else was interested in selling. They were also the largest Meego OEM.

[rfirth]

I think Nokia announces 3rd quarter earnings in 4 days (Thursday, October 18th). I don't think they will be very good, considering this is the quarter leading up to the launch of WP8, with existing devices only getting WP7.8. Still, it should be better than 2nd quarter earnings.

I definitely don't believe Nokia's management is asleep at the wheel. I think 4th quarter earnings will be very interesting and there is still talk of a Nokia tablet. And for investors starting a position in Nokia now, there is opportunity for very huge profits if Nokia can turn this around. It's probably best to wait until after the 3rd quarter earnings are announced though, because I don't think they will be good.

I'd also wait on investing in Microsoft until the amount of that huge fine is announced that the EU is going to charge them for accidentally breaking the browser choice ballot window for a while.

[jakem1]

I'm well aware of Nokia Maps, Lens and their other apps, but would that stuff really sway someone to buy a Nokia over a different WP? The answer is no, Windows Phone can only really compete on hardware.

Given the fact that they're outselling HTC and Samsung the answer is obviously yes.

I have a Samsung WP but my next phone will be a Nokia because they've demonstrated that they're much more committed to developing the platform and providing additional value through the software they add to their phones. By comparison, Samsung have done very little and have only ever released a few worthless apps. HTC have a slightly better track record but up until now they've been more interested in pushing Sense-like features that don't appeal to me.

The other problem that HTC and Samsung have is that they've been constrained by their Android phone and have simply recycled designs for WP. HTC's latest phones seem to buck that trend which is a good thing but Samsung's next WP is simply a rebranded Galaxy S3 and it's pretty clear that they're not interested in competing with Nokia.

The largest OEM for an OS that pretty much no one else was interested in selling.

I think that's about to change. Android isn't working for HTC and it's clear that they intend to invest more in WP to try and grow their business again. They've pretty much said this and it's their new designs prove that they're starting to take WP seriously. Samsung have no reason to try too hard with WP as their Galaxy range is successful enough but it's obvious that they're the only OEM that's able to make a success of Android.

[Richteralan]

You post this article on a MS fanboy site?

And expect to have an objective discussion of it?

LOL

[nekkidtruth]

All of this will be a moot point when Samsung brings it's hardware over to the WP side. The Ativ S is basically a high end Galaxy device with WP8 on it. If they can bring the hardware they've brought to Android, they'll pretty much annihilate Nokia and anyone else. That's my prediction anyway. Samsung brought it's A-game to Android and it succeeded. It's ramping up to do the same WP side.

As a side note, the only reason Nokia is even a blip on the radar at this point is because they were really the only ones to embrace WP to begin with. When you're the only one actively selling Windows Phones, it's hard not to be on top ;)

[moloko]

Just got a 60$ Nokia with dual sim. weeeeee. They are not good at high end stuff but overseas they are popular in the poorer countries. This article is all 1st world problems

[ichi]

I think that's about to change. Android isn't working for HTC and it's clear that they intend to invest more in WP to try and grow their business again. They've pretty much said this and it's their new designs prove that they're starting to take WP seriously. Samsung have no reason to try too hard with WP as their Galaxy range is successful enough but it's obvious that they're the only OEM that's able to make a success of Android.

Maybe, but the point is that they got the lead with WP7 when no one else was selling it and they might or might not be able to retain that lead if other OEMs get serious about WP8.

HTC was also doing great early in the Android game, just to be obliterated by Samsung later on.