A billion here, a billion there - pretty soon it adds up to real money. ',Senator Everett Dicksen (1896-1969)" - 1 "279"
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Nokia continues on the road to ruin
YEARS of neglect have left the once mighty telecoms equipment manufacturer, Nokia, fighting for its life. With the vultures circling, the firm is determined to take a knife to a gunfight.
The firm, best known for its mobile phone handsets, has lost its way by forgetting what made it the top handset maker. A decade ago Nokia had the world within its palm, now, thanks primarily to severely outdated software, it can barely raise a hand to signal for help. Rewind to the thick of the 1990s and the story was so different.
Underpinning its fashionable mobile phones was sound technology. Nokia popularised hidden antennas in mobile phones and did so without creating the mess Apple whipped up. The firm even ‘persuaded' Keanu Reeves to use a Nokia 8110 in The Matrix, propelling the device to near cult status. Nokia had droves of kids buying its phones just to control a line of pixels across a screen. App store? What's the point when you have the original killer app.
While movie appearances and fiddly games may have worked on the PlayStation generation, Nokia knew what it was doing when it came to business oriented phones. The original workman's phone was the Nokia 6210. The handset epitomised what Nokia was about, focused design that met the needs of the intended user. The phone was such a hit that once Nokia announced it would stop making the devices, businesses clamoured to get hold of the last few phones.
The difference between then and now could not be wider. Nokia not only has an image problem, its phones can barely keep pace with the chasing pack. The uncomfortable truth is all mobile phone manufacturers are chasing Apple, a company that has a single product in its phone portfolio. Once the leader, Nokia has fallen so far behind that its devices aren't even mentioned in the same breath as Apple's Iphone, Samsung's Galaxy S, Motorola's Droid X or HTC's Desire. The curious part? Apple reached the top by copying Nokia.
Apple might be many things but its CEO Steve Jobs and lead designer Jonathan Ive are a double act that is almost without equal. They created a mobile phone that, even when unable to function as a phone, still sells out. And the best part? It really isn't just about the looks. The Iphone always combined looks with functionality, a trick Nokia managed rather well in the latter decades of the 20th century.
Firms such as Nokia will go to great lengths to point out that smartphones represent the high margin, low volume end of the market. It is the cheap handsets that really drive sales and prop up a company's balance sheet. That's true, but the whole point of a showcase product such as the Iphone is to give consumers something to aspire to. Nokia simply has nothing in its range that will make consumers think about any of its products once they are out of sight.
Nokia's image problem isn't solely from the aesthetics of its products, many of which should be covered with a paper bag when placed next to Apple's Iphone 4 or Sony's Xperia X10. No, the problem is almost entirely with the software. The firm's insistence to stick with its Symbian operating system has cost it almost everything.
Not only did the firm underestimate the popularity of touchscreen devices, when it did produce them, the operating system felt like it was designed by someone who thought sitting on a spike would be good for ergonomics. After using Nokia's N97 Mini for several months, it's hard to see why anyone would subject themselves to this level of frustration on a daily basis.
Putting aside the device's flaws, of which there are many, it's blatantly obvious that the operating system wasn't designed for touchscreen input. The list of faults is extensive, starting from basic ergonomics and going all the way up to a level of finish that could be outshone by a single teenage coder in his parents' basement. There's a general feeling that as Nokia watched competitors bring out new features, it felt compelled to simply bolt their equivalents onto a cumbersome and creaking operating system.
One look at Motorola and how it has prospered since dropping its various home made operating systems in favour of Google's Android should serve as motivation for Nokia. The popularity of its Droid and Droid X is a testament to putting user requirements over corporate pride. Even Samsung, which hedged its bets between Bada and Android, has managed to coin a couple of winners with the Galaxy S and Wave handsets.
Nokia has gone from having a sense of desperation to being in the centre of its own disaster zone. First the firm came out with the positive news that it will load its all new operating system, Meego, onto its high end N-series phones. The joy of having a clear destiny was short lived as moments after announcing a terrible set of financial figures, Nokia's CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said that he was confident of selling 50 million devices based on the Symbian^3 operating system, found on its N8 smartphone.
It's not surprising to hear a CEO gush about his firm's latest product, but when you hear marketing guff to justify the existence of two operating systems you know something is wrong. Kallasvuo waxed lyrical about how Symbian and Meego have different "sweetspots" and that Symbian is about creating a "broad mass market footprint" while Meego's "speed and agility" is good for "flagship solutions". Cutting through the layers of schmaltz, it's obvious the firm simply hasn't got a clue about how to get out of its own mess.
The firm nailed high quality production decades ago, something that Apple is clearly trying to grapple with. Throughout its range, handset specifications won't be found wanting and the Scandinavian firm's design credentials, though at times unconventional, have rarely come into question. The problem clearly lies in its software.
It is clear, even at this early stage, that Meego offers a chance for Nokia to ditch the legacy look and feel of Symbian and replace it with something that looks fresh. The firm that led the market by adorning its phones with clean, functional software needs to once again focus on software.
After half a decade of stagnation in mobile phone software, Apple changed everything with the Iphone and the App Store. By contrast Nokia's Ovi store looks like the sort of knock-off you would find being flogged down the local market. It might well do the same job as the App Store but its accessibility is a world away from the simplicity of either the App Store or the Android Market.
With developers unsure whether Nokia's devices will run Symbian or Meego, why should they bother grappling with two different software development kits to appear on devices that are being made by a company that is dying on its feet. Some clear leadership is required and Kallasvuo's recent comments only serve to muddy the waters.
The recent dismal financial figures are a wake-up call for the firm. In six months' time come Mobile World Congress (MWC), it needs to tip up with a bunch of phones that not only look the part, but have Meego running on them. It needs to rally developers to its cause and show that their efforts will be profitable for both Nokia and themselves. All this will have to occur against the backdrop of growing competition.
By MWC 2011, Microsoft will have played its ace in the smartphone market with Windows Phone 7, Apple presumably will have fixed the numerous problems with the Iphone 4, not that they have hindered sales thus far, and the number of phones running Android will have grown, again. Even ignoring Research In Motion (RIM), the market is getting over populated and Nokia simply cannot be peddling a confusing range of phones any longer.
Nokia needs to make a firm decision on which operating system its phones will run. It needs to communicate with developers, convincing them that developing for its devices isn't a waste of time. Above all, Nokia needs to take software seriously, because if it doesn't, other handset manufacturers will be happy to take its place. µ
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Shout out to all of you wacky (and semi-literate) Nokia fans, in particular the ones who posted here...
Kalel17
Serhiy
Fact's a fact
...and we can't forget that outright madman, 'TR'.
So, kids, here we are just 7 months later.
Nokia's market-share has plummeted to just over 30%. Turns out the 40%+ share was a total fiction, based on unsustainable discounts to vendors. Android has surpassed Symbian in daily activations and shows no signs of slowing down, with a growth-rate chart that looks like a missile launch. Samsung has become a very real threat for overtaking Nokia's position as #1 vertical OEM, thanks almost entirely to their adoption of Android. And, of course, Nokia's new CEO has decided that they suck so hard he had no option but to throw in the towel, prostituting themselves as little more than a box maker for an even bigger loser in the mobile space (yes, it's the US company you love to hate!), Microsoft.
I feel your pain. OK, not really, but I do think it's a major giggle. Would you like to eat your words now or at year's end, when their market-share has dropped to under 20%?
Perhaps Nokia should consider that the phones need to be supplied with the operating system the customers want, not the one the directors of the company want.
For fxxks sake stop & think a little before regurgitating.
What was it about your article that did not remind me of Palm bashing crazies? You people carped on about Palm's lack of multitasking. Fine. OK it was old. What about crApple stuff? No-one dares peep at that. Everyone wrote Palm OS off until it really was dead but crApple stuff is reworked Palm OS – even down to the lack of multitasking - with some twiddly bits and a list of fart gags to buy. Go find some Sony Clies.
Many of the comments and responses rubbish your article – as they rightly should – but what is revealing is that they tend to be reasoned, sensible and not hysterical like this one is. I'm styling my response on how crApple cargo cultists do it. A lot of people who buy and use PHONES tend to be rational rather than cargo cult members. What is there to worship about cell phones?
The iProne is not a smartphone – you can't even use it to make calls any more. It has created a new market segment - the cargo cult phone.
What you and every other brainwashed zombie masquerading as a journalist says is that a non-functional finger dibbing bit of plastic that goes wheee is a phone and must be the solution for everyone. What the fxxk happened to consumer choice and ergonomics? Why is RIM still a success? A lot of people want to make calls quickly and easily sometimes even when it's raining – they don't want to see greasy ear gloop on their phone screens after every phone call. Reasonable phone users don't want to have to deal with ear grease every minute. They want to make and receive calls without fuss and without much attention to a shiny screen that is covered with sweaty ear gloop. Perhaps cargo cultists lick this gloop off, I don't know, but what is obviously wizzo for cargo cult members may not be the preferred solution for those who remain in the real world, in that some people simply want to make and receive calls without fuss and without needing to look at a spade-sized smeary bit of plastic in their hands ever time they get a call.
Get real, iPrones are for people who have no jobs or friends.
Nokia recognises that consumers have a choice – why don't you?
Why do we never hear about buyer demographics? Who buys an iProne?
Your article proves that hysterical cargo cults are a very effective marketing tool, since it's not clear if you ever examined the Nokia financials before having this guff dictated to you.
Don't forget that Meego supports Qt! That means an almost instant source of thousands of existing apps. Also, Qt is MUCH easier to program than Java/Eclipse/Android. I am doing Android development right now and it is a big mess. Not as bad as Symbian, but still painful. I wish Qt supported Android!
Even though Nokia is late, I think Nokia has made a good choice. People will be surprised with Meego.
MeeGo has a lot of positive things going for it.
1. Open-Source will attract developers
2. Also means users and OEMs are less beholden to lock-in
3. MeeGo comes with the Firefox (Fennec) browser
4. It has already been released on portable computers (unlike Microsoft's hopeless Windows Phone 7)
5. MeeGo is the truest Linux phone OS of all the major platforms
mr Bragg, the SonyEricsson P800 used UIQ, pen and key driven user interface, taken over and handled by former UIQ in Ronneby, Sweden
UIQ was running over Symbian, but it was not the same UI as System 60 (with Symbian as OS).
Both UIQ and System 60 et cetera is different ideas and approaches from Psion, of course, but the key thing is that Nokia did NOT have an pen based UI at that time.
(Nor touch, and being an ex-P800 owner, currently iPhone 3GS, and an avid Newtonfanatic, I can really tell there is difference between pen and touchbased UI)
More pointless drivel on the Inquirer - 3 weeks on a beach and I have missed nothing - The Inq' continues it's decline into irrelevance with long winded, content free articles high on myopic US centric opinion and devastatingly low on factual content.
Dweeb
ps: The 6210 was the best phone I ever owned, I was sad to return it to my last employer.
I've used a couple of Nokia company phones over the years and while they just work great as a phone, any second or third level function was always hard to find. The function layout was just backwards from the expected layout seen on Asian and Motorola phones, so when given the option to chose a phone I went elsewhere. I think it is much more that the user interface is just out of step?
This guy is one of the reasons I might stop reading the inquirer. A badly thought out rant passing for an 'Analysis'. More like a bad fanboy blog than a tech article.
So what do you suggest Kallasvuo should have said? - "Symbian is crap. Don't buy it. We are gonna ditch it anyway". My guess is, that Kallasvuo is wiser than you. This whole analysis clearly points in that direction ;-)
This is Lawrence Latif and The Inquirer, do not expect high quality in any directions.
These articles are written for about an hour with *NO RESEARCH* just combining the author's opinion + links to the author's prev. articles. They are meant to be annoying to any educated person and (even better) - commented.
With every comment you add value to this crap, thats the point, it is, lets say "a business model" - low investment - high click count and.
This article is so ridiculous.
I wont touch where everyone has already made good points.
But I will tell you this.
Apple has sold a phone that has no features out of the box, they cant freaking install a damned demo game on their phone. What good is an iphone out of the box? So of course people have to spend money on those apps. Of course an iphone with no network is nothing, the same thing is a problem with android on a lot of apps. Its nice to see phones that still have actual programs that install right on the phone. I understand that cloud is the future, but i dont want a pda thin client.
I don't agree with the author on many accounts.
First of all, Nokia isn't Apple and Nokia isn't RIMM. Apple makes one high-end smart phone model while Nokia produces hundreds of models from ultra low priced models to high-end products. A product strategy like this requires multiple OS'es. You can't just run Meego or Android on hardware in sub-USD 50 phones (at least not for now)!! That's why Symbian remains important to Nokia for now. Android is good, but Nokia shouldn't be adopting it because differentiation is important (Android space way to crowded already), so I agree that MeeGo is the way to go for Nokia, pushing it down gradually from high-end to lower-end devices as harware gets more powerful and inexpensive.
Yep, the author forgets to mention QT, which is a cross-platform development framework, develop once - deploy anywhere. Harmonizing app. dev was a smart move by Nokia. I'm hoping that Java will be supported again (QT/Jambi seems to be going out).
I have to agree that Nokia was way too slow in refreshing Symbians UI's. Symbian ^3 and the first Symbian ^4 screenshots feel quite outdated already.
The article seems to focus on catchy statements and simplistic views instead of properly researched facts. Completely ignores that Nokia has an entirely different business- and distribution model than other vendors (Apple, RIMM etc.)
have you tried nokia N900. i would hardly say iPhone is much better.
N97 has improved with the upgrades. i think nokia did make a mistake with N97, which has been admitted by nokia publicly. you do not see apple doing that. i mean look at the farce with the signal drop issue. claiming the signal bars were 2 higher.
apple is a con and steve jobs is a con artist. he's created this perception that apple is cool and trendy, and millions of gullible people with too much money to spend are being sucked into it.
look at the price people are paying for an iphone. you can get an nokia N8 which will be much cheaper with better camera and video recorder - HDMI output to you tv display . look at the price he charges for laptops. you can get a cheaper laptop and install linux for at least 50% less. look at the return and failure rate of iphone. there is reason why people are jumping to android. i phone too much, not worth the price. Once apple suck you in, they try to get you to buy again and again. iphone 3g. try installing ios4 onto it. slow will crawl and freeze. iphone 3g is only 1 year old, but already its outdated. it a lot of money to spend each year.
where is this white iphone ? its only white but why the big delay ? does that have worse signal drop problems ?
apple have been lucky so far, no way they planned all this. the app store is what made apple iphone take off, that is all. app store came before iphone. people went crazy for apps. this is where nokia have lost out and this is what nokia needs badly.
what would iphone be without app store, nothing - just another touch phone like the N900.
all this talk about symbian being the problem. thats rubbish. symbian has had its day and nokia knows that, hence the introduction of Qt.
Qt is much nicer to code than objective c (iphone) for developers.
S40 - low price range - using java sdk for development coming soon
S60 - mid price range - use Qt sdk
Meego - high price range - use Qt sdk
people discredit nokia for having too many OS and too many phones and os, but nokia makes phone for all price bands. so it makes perfect sense to me.
I don't really agree with your comments regarding Symbian, it is actually a very good OS that is stuck with a woefully neglected user interface. What Symbian does allow is phones to have modern Smartphone capabilities with minimal HW requirements relative to Android and iOS, come on iPhone has only just started doing multitasking! So with Symbian you can get cheap phones and therefore large volumes. But ultimately it is true Symbian will die, all things reach their expiration date (don't we all), but Series40 seems to be stubbornly hanging on to life, so obviously not everyone is prepared to pay for an iPhone.
What your article neglects to say is that Nokia will have one platform for developers, it is called Qt..! Who really cares about the OS these days, it's the apps and services that matter, and Symban^3 for its part will run this new developer platform along with the old S60 stuff. However what your article does make painfully apparent is the dreadful job Nokia is doing at communicating this message to wider world.
As for comments about the aesthetics of some of Nokia's recent phones.... well can't argue with that, a paper bag would have been a handy accessory for some of them, but at least they don't need a rubber band putting around them to be fully functional like some other products out there.
"the whole point of a showcase product such as the Iphone is to give consumers something to aspire to"
Where did you pull that one from... your arse ?
Aspirations of owning an iPhone or some other luxury fashion gadget is an indulgence only the well heeled and/or very stupid, bother to waste their time pondering.
For the majority of everyday sensible people, the desire is simply for an affordable and easy-to-use phone that actually works... Nokia know how to do that.
Well before you should start writing a hell of a long page about a company, just try to read about their projects,
Iphones and all other phones are ONLY about the looks, even android is a lot better than the iOS 4.
The reason only high end phones have maemo / will have meego because normal consumers would not need all the functionailty that it has. Do you even know what all a maemo device can do or the upcoming meego?
Go ahead and read about it. Then maybe come back and write an article.
FYI,
The technology (SW ) that apple uses now is 2-3 years behind nokia.
This writeup proves to me that the current crop of 'analyst' have dropped research in favor of eye catching headline. There are so much inconsistencies I dont know where to start. The main thing that got to me though was the utter lack of research on nokia's future development model, Qt. The author asked why should developers have to bother with two different OS and two different development kit, this itself proves how little research was done. In the last few months nokia released an all in one development IDE-Compiler-Simulator tool called nokia qt sdk. Apps created with this SDK will run on maemo, meego, symbian^3 and symbian^4 without ANY code change, all you need to do is compile, simple. Now author, were you aware of this? If not then you lack information that even simple people who browse about phones should know- this sdk have been in beta for months.
The other very disturbing thing had to do with the operating system and how little you know about it. What we see and criticise is not the OS, it is the UI AVKON. In order for you to understand you will have to go back to the time symbian was created. Symbian was created as an OS independent of a Ui so that manufacturers could add their own Ui and application layer. UIQ, series 60, series 80 and series 90 were developed by nokia, sony ericsson and others. These Uix were all completely different; some were made for pen input while others were made for keypad and d-pad input. The sole reason why we link the Ui we know today(which is series 60 or s60 derived) is because it has been by far the most popular one.
So the symbian os is extremely versatile and is only limited by the archaic Ui from 2001. Symbian OS is also the most advanced os on a smartphone today, like it or not. It's advanced resource management capabilities and superior power management is second to none, making it able for nokia to deploy it on increasingly cheaper models that other OS cant even dare to reach. To give an example: The google G1 can only muster 40mb free ram on its original os, if you were to put the n97 on that hardware it would have over 100mb free ram at startup.
There are some warps and poor thinking in nokia yes but please get your information straight before trying to educate others...
P.S. We will be back here again with this same nokia doomed argument in 5 months, when nokia still retains it's 41% marketshare :).
Clearly this is a poorly research article. It looks like the author has picked up bits and pieces from the American press. There is no mention of Qt which is a common development platform for Symbian and MeeGo.
It's quite funny hearing all the trendy nerds getting on the bandwagon of Nokia bashing. One would think that a company that's started in 1865 as a pulp mill, has gone through several key business model changes, and spawned off a 2 billion dollar tire company in the process, has a tendency of doing some long term planning. Nokia is not a trend chasing company, more often than not they set the trend with a quality product for a reasonable price.
The next trend they'll be setting is the tablet trend. Microsoft tried and failed, they really needed Bill to stay there. Apple is doing well with their standard business model of carving out a niche market out of their typical user base: wealthy but not very computer or consumer savy...
Nokia however, as they've become accustomed to will be the one setting the trend for this emerging market.
The pillars for this new trend are: Qt, Meego, Intel, ARM, GENIVI... not to mention all the other high end embedded OS devices... 3rd party tablets, TVs, in-car GPS...
Market testing/development started in 2005 with Nokia-770 and OS2005... give them a year or two to finally wrap this project up... this is no iPad that's a comin... this could be bigger than Windows...
You have just re-said what the American press has been saying for the past 3 years. I personally think a lot of it is true and a lot of it is untrue (due to the American controlled media perception of Nokia judged by its brand image in North America)
The technical part of Nokia, I believe is quite strong but the belief that consumers are rational is becoming its waterloo. They have realized that and now see that fewer devices with fewer but easy to use feature sets will see them thru.
Also they are VERY (read it as verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyy) strong in the growth markets and these markets donot like American too much.
So lets see, mark my words on July 28 2010... Lets touch base in 1 year's time... and decide who was right. Amen!
Here's something for Nokia to ponder.
With its development budget it shouldn't be that difficult to provide _multiple_ operating system _options_ for its phones.
Define the phone and its basic features without a user experience (i.e. no OS). Provide a formware API that allows the user to pick which OS they really prefer.
Have two competing OS teams internally, and make them "sell" their OS based on user adoption rates. Poor sales = no bonus, really bad sales = revamp that OS entirely.
Sell the phones with one or more OS choices that the user can select on the fly. Help third parties port their OS's to the phones. Allow for survival of the fittest.
And as for "ovi", give it the shot in the neck that it's been waiting for. Replace it with two competing interchangeable (and interacting) solutions. Allow Darwin to pick which approach works better.
Although I agree with the article that Symbian is like a lead weight around the company's neck, holding it back, its more immediate problem is ANYTHING Ovi, apart from maps.
If a new CEO does take over Nokia, the first thing on his agenda is to immediately nuke the entire Ovi mess, including Ovi/Nokia Messaging, and start over again. It's unsalvageable.
The majority of people on this planet use Nokia.
The Symbian OS can now be found on more and more "entry-level" devices. Some even look like plain "feature" phones. And they cost even less than you think.
Try and sell an iPhone, or a Droid, or a Desire to an average Joe, with an average Paycheck.
Hard to take this article seriously at all, really - it's so full of errors and lack of understanding.
1) Symbian - the OS - is absolutely fine, probably the best OS there is for a phone. However the Nokia touch screen UI (S60, UIKON/AVKON) on the N97 is poor - that has nothing to do with the OS, it's the UI - UIKON/AVKON - that is the problem. Seems you have no understanding of Symbian architecture.
2) Nokia is a Finnish company. Finland is technically not part of Scandinavia, which means it is not a "Scandinavian firm".
3) You make no mention of Qt. Do you know where Qt fits in to the Nokia software strategy? Do you know that Nokia have a version of Qt for Android? Do you know what this would mean for Nokia, Symbian, MeeGo and Android? Obviously not given your comments about developers "being unsure whether Nokia's devices will run Symbian or Meego" - with Qt they don't need to care what OS they're targeting as the Qt API and Qt SDK will take care of all that - write once, deploy everywhere. Really, do some research on the Nokia software strategy before writing any more uninformed drivel about the Nokia software strategy.
However, all that said I do agree on your comment relating to Ovi Store. It's an unmitigated disaster and it's the Ovi services - not the phone OS or UI - that will most likely bring Nokia down.
Nice article,
but you forgot to mention that Nokia's worldwide smartphone marketshare grew in Q2 to 40% from the previous Q1's 38%.
Android & iPhone combined arent't nowhere close to this :D
Nokia's market share is bigger than all the 3 biggest competitors combined.
So keep on hoping :)
You forgot to add, that Nokia is still releasing new devices with S40 OS, making it 3 different OS they support.
In addition, you have various flavours of these OSs that are basically imcompatible from one another in terms of development.
They claim to spend about 10 times what Apple spends on RD, but when such an amount is spent reinventing the wheel for every single device, why are they surprised their return on investment is low.
Nokia is still stuck in the "make a new fashion item handset", while the rest of the industry has moved on to making capable devices that do sensible things.
Apple didn't invent anything, but their experience in making computers made them offer a phone that, even if limited in functionality, still gave their users a different experience.
They also make only one device, not the over 100 Nokia has.
Nokia actually put too much emphasis on the software side - software engineering. They didn't want to write off or rewrite the crappy Symbian. They have spread themselves too thin by using the same business model that creates a wide range of phones. They completely igored the emergence of the importance of a product's ecosystem with their crappy Ovi services. I'm glad they're fighting for the survival now. All companies should remember that the market force will judge them fairly.
Symbian wasn't designed for Touch Screens?
I think the Sony Ericsson P800 released in 2003 (which Steve Jobs commented was the phone that inspired the iPhone) was, a errm, Touch Screen device.