backtop

Print 14 comment(s) - last by Help Desk.. on Jun 21 at 11:01 PM

Nokia N900
Nokia to continue battling smartphone rivals, even with little U.S. market share and declining financial outlooks

Nokia has been forced to issue a profit warning as the company continues to struggle to compete against Apple, Research In Motion, and other smartphone makers.

The company, which remains the No. 1 mobile phone maker in the world, said its second quarter will likely end up at "the lower end of, or slightly below, its previously expected range of €6.7 billion to €7.2 billion," according to the company.

Specifically, Nokia investors are wary that the Finnish phone maker will continue to lose customers in the higher-end phone market without stopping the bleeding.  Some analysts are now saying Nokia's current mobile offerings both in North America and Europe are extremely weak.

Even with continued struggles against Apple and other smartphone competitors in the North American market, the company still has been able to focus on mid-range and lower-end phone models.

"There are people out there saying that Nokia is going into a tail spin, like Motorola did," said Tero Kuittinen, MKM Partners analyst, in a statement.  "That's the narrative that's freaking people out, but I am not buying it.  That tends to be discounted, particularly in the U.S., where Nokia has zero presence and all the focus is on what Apple and Google are doing."

In other Nokia news, the company recently announced a bicycle-powered phone charger aimed at Europe and developing nations in South America and Africa.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
Nokia N8.......
By themaster08 on 6/17/2010 12:25:52 PM , Rating: 2
I feel the Nokia N8 will help Nokia to redeem themselves in the market.

The phone will not be released until around September, which should give enough time for the iPhone 4 hype to die down somewhat, and to give themselves more time to tweak the device.

From what I've read, they're working tirelessly to get the device working as perfectly as possible, using every last bit of time available to tweak the device to its limits.

They have a very streamlined lineup on the way which will show that the company has focus instead of just a constant pumping out of sub-par devices.

Their biggest task will be to entice developers to port/switch to Symbian, which will be a mamoth of a task, especially now.

In the meantime, they will need to rely on their mid-range and lower end devices to get them through these extremely tough times. Fortunately, these markets still very much exist. Not everybody needs a smartphone, and Nokia is one of the few companies that still accommodates for this market.




RE: Nokia N8.......
By Exodite on 6/17/2010 12:55:34 PM , Rating: 2
The N8 is shaping up to be a good phone indeed, from all the previews/reviews is seems to be well thought out, full-featured and durable.

The problem is that while it had been positioned as a high-end phone when announced in April it won't be when available in August.

The smartphone market is simply moving too fast for Nokia at the moment and it's doubtful they'll ever catch up with the high end until the development cycles slow down or the company changes strategy.

I do believe it might pay off, eventually, to not release a new phone every 4 weeks for Nokia however.

The market is getting flooded with new devices, mostly Android phones obviously, and while we're spoiled for choice as consumers it's clear that the companies can't actually support that many devices in any decent after-sale fashion.

I'll keep looking at the N8 but I'll probably get an Android device, assuming the companies behind them can commit to a rigid and rapid software update schedule for at least 24 months.

Which puts me in the waiting game I suppose, though that's fine by me. I haven't owned a smartphone yet and I'm certainly in no rush. Heck, diving headfirst into a market where devices become obsolete in a matter of months isn't something my limited budget would appreciate anyway.


RE: Nokia N8.......
By themaster08 on 6/17/2010 1:17:10 PM , Rating: 2
I agree. We also have to take into consideration that this device is far from fully optimised thus far.

I do think that the N8 was announced too early. You need to announce a phone so that the hype is then turned into sales. I fear that the hype of the N8 will probably fade before it has even been released. Unless of course, Nokia have something up their sleeves.

The market is over saturated at the moment. Windows Phone 7 is still yet to be released as well. Nokia need to make Symbian known. It is an extremely capable and adaptable OS. Nokia need to market the hell out of the N8 and their other upcoming devices. If they can find a good marketing strategy, they will be half way there.

Nokia have changed their strategy. Just look at this picture:
http://dailymobile.se/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/n...

It shows that Nokia has focus on specific devices and is not going to release new devices every month out of desperation. This will mean that the Symbian platform will become much less fragmented which will be of benefit to developers.

My contract is up in September, and I am seriously considering the N8. I think if Nokia released the N8 now, the marketing prowess and hype of the iPhone 4 would completely ruin the N8's chance of being a real competitor in the smartphone arena. It would just be forgotten under the force of the iPhone.

I've owned plenty of smartphones and have always liked Symbian. I am really looking forward to seeing it in all of its new glory. The main thing holding me back at the moment is the fear of developers disregarding Symbian.


RE: Nokia N8.......
By bhieb on 6/17/2010 1:52:27 PM , Rating: 2
Problem is that the phone part of a Smart phone is becoming increasingly minor. No longer does the average customer shop for the phone, but for the software (apps).

Apple and Google are trying to be the Microsoft of the mobile market. Once a user has invested time and money into apps, it would take a monumental blunder for them to jump ship. Face it we are hooked on the software (apps) now, the hardware is only a minor part of our buying decision.

If Apple is the new MS of the mobile market, with droves of fans hooked on their software, then Nokia would be the Linux. Sure symbia is superior in many ways, but only a niche market gives a rat's ass.

Look at it this way how many Linux boxes does Best Buy sell vs MS (or even Apple)? There may be benefits, but they don't out way the comfort level and investment in time/money people have with their existing MS software.

I'd argue the only reason Android stands a chance against Apple is their exclusive deal with AT&T. Had the iPhone been on all networks, the masses would be too hooked on it to ever be moved to Android. Don't beleive me ask your fellow iPhone user if they are happy with AT&T. Bet most of them hate it like myself, but are too invested to justify a leave. So not even a truly abysmal carrier can get us to switch, what makes Nokia think just another phone with another proprietary store will? Palm learned this the hard way, and Nokia will too. Proprietary only works if your the first one to do it (aka iPhone), once established the incumbent proprietary method is very hard to sway users from.

IMHO they should drop symbia and go Android. They won't because they are most likely too inefficient to produce just hardware and be competitive with the HTC's out there. They will hang on to their outdated business model and fade into a niche.


RE: Nokia N8.......
By Gungel on 6/17/10, Rating: 0
RE: Nokia N8.......
By Exodite on 6/17/2010 2:13:07 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Face it we are hooked on the software (apps) now, the hardware is only a minor part of our buying decision.

I agree, sadly the likes of Samsung, HTC and SE has yet to wizen up to this.

Keeping the software updated on their devices is far more important than pushing out more hardware. Right now it works since the masses are still jumping onto the smartphone bandwagon but eventually people won't be willing to get a new phone every 6 months just to be able to use the latest apps.
quote:
I'd argue the only reason Android stands a chance against Apple is their exclusive deal with AT&T.

Ah no, I can say for a fact that isn't true considering there's no exclusive deals on the iPhone on my end of the pond.

For those of us on the geek end of the spectrum all the different mobile platforms offer different compelling advantages. While I love the design and display of the new iPhone for example, as well as the software available to it, I'd never consider getting into such a rigid platform.

The rest of the populace simply don't care about the platform, that's the beauty of it. Sure, Apple may pick up customers based on them just hearing about the iPhone but when my less than geeky associates talk about their phones they talk about 'iPhone', 'Nokia', 'Samsung', 'HTC' etc. They have no clue what platform an individual device is running, just what the device allows them to do.

Which is as it should be really.

Thus it comes down to putting out capable devices and advertising them well. Something Apple is obviously good at but they've by no means won the battle by default.

Being located in Sweden myself, where there's no such things as exclusive deals and iPhones, Nokias and high-end Android devices are all available on all major carriers I can't see any obvious bias in platform choice.

Aside from the fact that Apple reinvented the smartphone platform and still has a lot of users due to that fact alone. Nokia and SE are still quite big here and brands such as HTC are rapidly making headway with the Desire and Legend.

It's an exciting market and one that still has a shot at avoiding the platform dominance we see in the PC market.

As far as Apple is concerned it's probably good to keep in mind that they are much, much more popular in the US than anywhere else in the world as well. Both when it comes to computers and smartphones really even though I'd imagine the disparity is less in the smartphone market.


Great phone but slow
By knowitall on 6/18/2010 4:24:34 AM , Rating: 2
Nokia went full blast on this phone, I was starting to really like it from the demos , until I noticed the processor .

Why did they ruin such a great phone with a 680 MHz processor. Is it really to save battery life or are they trying to save a little money by putting a slower processor and smaller battery. and I would have liked it better with 512 Mb ram also but could have considered it without it .Don't ruin such a nice product by trying to cut corners.
I agree that the demo wasn't from a finished product but it really looked sluggish. I will still check it out on release date.




RE: Great phone but slow
By Zarsky on 6/18/2010 11:39:02 AM , Rating: 2
Remember that it comes with dedicated graphics chip instead, so it's not that slow.


RE: Great phone but slow
By Exodite on 6/18/2010 1:42:53 PM , Rating: 2
Indeed.

Unlike Android the UI is fully GPU accelerated which makes a world of difference. I've read and watched a fair few previews/reviews and the N8 doesn't appear sluggish in any way.

I do believe Android has more potential in the long run but the lack of GPU acceleration is a glaring omission at this point.


RE: Great phone but slow
By themaster08 on 6/19/2010 1:46:47 AM , Rating: 2
The N8 also has one of, if not the fastest GPU on the market.

That will be of great benefit to the device.


RE: Great phone but slow
By Zarsky on 6/18/2010 11:40:06 AM , Rating: 2
Remember that it comes with dedicated graphics chip instead, so it's not that slow.
Nokia is aiming for 60fps in the UI.


By NeBlackCat on 6/18/2010 11:16:23 PM , Rating: 2
Nokia should:

1) do a mid-range dual core Symbian^3/4 phone, with one core reserved for the GSM/3G stack

2) properly open source it (everything except the GSM/3G stack)

3) publish it's hardware details

4) set up a developer community somewhere

..then sit back and watch homebrew take hold, sales go through the roof, and Symbian become all conquering again.

Dreambox for the mobile world.




Rare
By spathotan on 6/19/2010 1:24:48 AM , Rating: 2
Maybe if carriers actually carried these Nokia phones in the states this wouldnt be as big of an issue. Nobody is going to pay $700 for a phone anymore, unlocked or not, those days are over. This is why Nokia fails.




Nokia is in trouble
By Help Desk on 6/21/2010 11:01:47 PM , Rating: 2
Nokia's basic phones are good for their text & call functions, but when it comes to their smartphones, I don't think they can compete with the big sellers. They need a lot of developing to do in order to compete, just like what samsung and SE are doing.




"Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine." -- Bill Gates











botimage
Copyright 2012 DailyTech LLC. - RSS Feed | Advertise | About Us | Ethics | FAQ | Terms, Conditions & Privacy Information | Kristopher Kubicki