DailyTech - Nokia Looks to Gamble With Apple-Like Windows Phone 8 Euro Launch

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Gadgets Nokia Looks to Gamble With Apple-Like Windows Phone 8 Euro Launch
Jason Mick (Blog) - July 23, 2012 11:08 AM

18 comment(s) - last by Belard.. on Jul 24 at 4:17 PM

Phonemaker would select a couple of premium carriers in each region to try to create hype for its new WinPhones

Finland's Nokia Oyj. narrowly bested analysts' pessimistic expectations, moving 4 million Windows Phone 7 smartphones in Q2 2012. But the company is still posting big losses and is in the midst of painful layoffs. Most dangerously, Nokia is unlikely to fully complete its transition to Windows Phone until fall's launch of Windows Phone 8, nearly two years after Nokia's announcement of its decision to fully switch to Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) smartphone operating system.

With many viewing the Windows Phone 8 launch as Nokia's last chance to stay competitive, Nokia is reportedly considering a risky approach to try to change its fortune.

According to a report in The Financial Times, Nokia is looking to adopt an approach similar to that used by its rival Apple, Inc. (AAPL) during the 2007 launch of the iPhone. At the time Apple gambled, going with a single carrier in most regions -- for example AT&T, Inc. (T) in the U.S.

In the past, Nokia and others typically tried to get on as many carriers as possible, thinking that would attract the most customers. But in a strange way, the exclusivity of the iPhone helped Apple build its all-inclusive ecosystem and unprecedented hype surrounding the device.

_{Nokia is reportedly looking for exclusive carrier partners in Europe. [Image Site: Azbarez]}

Nokia is considering using a similar model to sell and market its new Windows Phone 8 handsets. Under the plan it would pick one or two "premium" carriers in each region and sell its handsets exclusively through them.

One such carrier is France Telecom (EURO:FTE), who owns the UK-France Orange network. Orange was Apple's original exclusive partner in France.

Nokia realizes that it does not yet command the prestige that Apple does in the market brand-wise. Thus it's looking to sweeten the deal for carriers via revenue sharing schemes. Nokia is hopeful this will encourage its exclusive carrier partners to offer more aggressive promotion of its devices.

While some may question the logic of Nokia -- a struggling veteran -- emulating Apple -- a younger power -- Nokia has some evidence in support of such a plan. In the U.S., Nokia chose to launch its premium handsets exclusively with AT&T, the original iPhone carrier.

_{Sales of the Lumia 900 were buoyed by strong performance on exclusive U.S. partner AT&T.}

Strong sales on the AT&T network reportedly drove the stronger-than-expect global Lumia sales. That modest success came even as European sales performed worse than expected, amid carrier apathy.

Source: FT

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Not so bold

By bug77 on 7/23/2012 11:38:53 AM , Rating: 3

I think in european markets, two carriers dominate anyway so it's not like Nokia are gaining much exclusivity. It's more like a move to cut costs on support. Instead of supporting 4-5 operators in each country and reach 95% of the audience, they'll only have to support two and reach "only" 80-85%.
Even so, without proper thinking ahead, this may turn out to be just a(nother) desperation move.
Do what you always did Nokia, reinvent yourself, start building something else if phones don't float your boat anymore.

RE: Not so bold

By kleinma on 7/23/2012 1:01:39 PM , Rating: 2

You mean like in the US where 2 carriers dominate?

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RE: Not so bold

By bug77 on 7/23/2012 7:29:38 PM , Rating: 2

I don't know, as far as I understand in some regions you just have to side with one carrier or another, no matter who dominates overall. I may be wrong, of course.

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RE: Not so bold

By munchroom on 7/23/2012 1:02:06 PM , Rating: 2

2 carriers in Europe, are you kidding?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_networ...

plenty competition in the mobile space, and if I am not mistaking exclusive deals with certain carriers are against EU law

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RE: Not so bold

By Gondor on 7/23/12, Rating: -1

RE: Not so bold

By weskurtz0081 on 7/23/2012 1:46:33 PM , Rating: 3

Wouldn't buy the phone because you don't like Windows Mobile? Wouldn't but the phone because you don't like Nokia?
Other than that, I don't see why someone wouldn't buy a Lumia 900 (other than upgrade path). Nokia makes great hardware, Windows Mobile is a solid OS that people seem to love after they start using it... I have been itching to get a Verizon Nokia WMO phone, but unfortunately that will take a while.

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RE: Not so bold

By Voldenuit on 7/23/2012 2:38:58 PM , Rating: 2

Why I'm not buying a Lumia 900:

1. No bluetooth file transter
2. No MTP mode
3. No USB host
4. Buggy offline maps support.
5. Inferior camera to N8 and 808
6. No removable SD storage
7. No pentaband antenna
8. No forwards compatibility with WP8 and WP8 apps.

A friend has one and the build quality is pretty good. The problem is mostly Microsoft's software and OS. It's severely missing functionality that I take for granted on my Symbian Belle and my wife's Android phone. I also appreciate being able to use the GPS on my N8 in offline mode when I'm overseas without incurring exorbitant international data charges (offline maps support is buggy in WP7).

Nokia makes great phones, but Elop set fire to symbian to try and get people to jump ship to an inferior platform. Symbian users aren't migrating to WP7, they're moving to Android and iOS.

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RE: Not so bold

By weskurtz0081 on 7/23/2012 7:19:38 PM , Rating: 2

Good set of reasons! Here's my opinion on your issues with the Lumia 900.

1. Don't use it anyway
2. Correct, Android users survived without it for years.
3. Correct, too bad they left it out. Although, I rarely use/need it.
4. I'm sure they are working on it, I would prefer buggy offline to very limited or no offline support.
5. Inferior to N8/808, superior to the vast majority of other smart phones.
6. Many phones don't have it, doesn't bother me.
7. Many phones aren't pentaband
8. This is the main issues I have, that's why I said "except" the issue of no upgrade path. This is why I wouldn't buy one.

Symbian was a sinking ship, while many people may have felt it was superior to the other mobile OS'es, it was going down in flames before Elop set fire to it. The masses spoke with their hard earned cash, and they weren't buying Symbian based phones.

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RE: Not so bold

By Flunk on 7/24/2012 8:53:20 AM , Rating: 2

Most people have never heard of any of those things. I can see why they didn't bother with them in order to bring this to market sooner. Maybe that's what's killing RIM.

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RE: Not so bold

By Belard on 7/24/2012 4:09:25 PM , Rating: 2

Most people don't even know what those features are. Does the iPhone have all of those? Yet, apple is the #1 seller of phones. They make sure every store has a live phone, not a dummy-mockup.

Some people apparently do not like the look of metro. Hmmmm. So let's imagine a metro style interface that didn't look 1980. I asked an ex why she doesn't like wp7, she just doesn't like how it looks.

Perhaps someone needs to do a poll on what Why people don't like metro/w7.

Functionality, I think it's excellent for a phone. On a desktop computer, it's ugly.

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RE: Not so bold

By Belard on 7/24/2012 4:17:11 PM , Rating: 2

Also, considering the specs on wp7 were outdated when the products started shipping, it's big fail that Nokia took forever to release the Lumia 800 and 900 phones, considering that he guts are standard, the screen is 2 years old, the OS is a finished product AND that the Lumia designs were already done in the N8 & N9 bodies... Just just cut out he hole for the required camera button.

Look it up. The Lumia designs were on the market a year before, same buttons, colors, etc. they ran Meego.

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RE: Not so bold

By bug77 on 7/23/2012 7:35:50 PM , Rating: 2

I didn't say there are only two carriers in Europe. It's just that in my country Orange and Vodafone pretty much dominate. There are other operators, but they're pretty much niche. While the two top dogs may vary, there are always 2 large operators and several smaller ones. Sometimes 3. My point is that picking just two operators per country does not mean Nokia is limiting themselves much, but rather avoiding to deal with smaller operators.

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RE: Not so bold

By Nemeth782 on 7/24/2012 4:59:57 AM , Rating: 2

Not the case all over europe. Certainly in the UK, the big 5 are considered by most consumers to be equivalent in terms of coverage etc.

Orange UK and Tmobile UK are now actually owned by one company but still maintain seperate brands, and from the point of view of most consumers are seperate, but this still only drops it to 4.

There are then a number of MVNOs, some with up to 3m subscribers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_networ...

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RE: Not so bold

By Strunf on 7/24/2012 10:32:47 AM , Rating: 2

In most European countries there are at least 3 carriers that dominate, the historical one and 2 "new" kids on the block.

I think it's silly what they want to do, Nokia isn't Apple, they lost a big share of their fan base and I don't think the ones that are still left would change of carrier just to have a Nokia.

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MS to buy Nokia

By gamerk2 on 7/23/12, Rating: 0

RE: MS to buy Nokia

By retrospooty on 7/23/2012 11:46:51 AM , Rating: 4

"Theres no way Nokia's management could be this bad..."

Nokia stuck with Symbian while the rest of the world passed it by. They kept themselves in denial years past the point of no return. You ask can they be this bad? Yes, they can.

Denial doesnt automatically go away when billions of dollars are at stake. Just ask RIM's ex ceo's Lazardis and Balsilie about that ;)

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RE: MS to buy Nokia

By Denigrate on 7/23/2012 12:58:26 PM , Rating: 2

Sadly, Nokia had the next big thing going with phone/mobile OS, and failed to do anything with it. Maemo/Meego is an outstanding OS, and could have been a dominant OS had Nokia paid it the attention it deserves.

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RE: MS to buy Nokia

By kleinma on 7/23/2012 12:58:32 PM , Rating: 2

Yeah they were in serious trouble well before Elop ever got there. If they had stayed with what they had, they would be in even worse shape, for the long haul anyway. They could have gone with Android, but then they would have been another me too in a sea of android makers who already had a much stronger footing in that market space.

If MS is looking to buy or 'save' Nokia, they sure are not acting like it right now. They contracted with Hauwei to build Win8 phones for China, a market where it was expected to have Nokia do very well.

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"This is about the Internet. Everything on the Internet is encrypted. This is not a BlackBerry-only issue. If they can't deal with the Internet, they should shut it off." -- RIM co-CEO Michael Lazaridis