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Nokia Windows Phone will come out DOA in 2012
A WEEK is a long time in politics and it seems it is even longer in the new world of Nokia Microsoft Windows Phones as the first handsets are now expected to crash land not in 2011 but sometime in 2012.
During the big announcement about the strategic alliance between Nokia and Microsoft for smartphones on Friday 11 February both the Finnish company's CEO Stephen Elop and the Vole's big cheese STEVE BALLMER avoided dates.
Then at Mobile World Congress Jo Harlow, Nokia senior vice president smart devices hinted at a 2011 launch, "We're not announcing any specific dates for that first product, but my boss [Elop] has made it clear that he would be much happier if the first device arrived in 2011."
Alas a short time later Nokia' chairman of the board Jorma Ollila told Reuters the brutal truth, "These Windows-based products (will be on markets) from 2012 onwards."
The announcement has not gone down too well beyond the confines of the igloo that must be Nokia's boardroom. Igloo because they can't spend much time together discussing strategy considering the decisions taken over the last few years.
Perhaps one of the most damning commentaries has come from an ex-Nokia executive turned author and consultant, Tomi Ahonen. He said, "Nokia, the Easyjet of smartphones. Yes, Nokia will probably still be the world's biggest handset maker at the end of this year, but its quite possible Nokia will no longer even be the biggest smartphone maker." µ
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The fall of Nokia will be widely reported and firmly fixed in the minds of punters as down to Microsoft's crap software.
This could play real bad for Microsoft as people think about different desktop OSes, e.g. Mac OS X, Chrome OS and, dare I say it, multi flavours of Linux.
Nokia demise - Microsoft blame - "Hey, I didn't realize quite how crap Microsoft software is!" - loss of desktop market share.
What Microsoft needs is another operating system. Something that isn't Windows. Something that is lean and mean and secure and real good.
Stephen Elop wants Nokia to fail. So Ballmer can snap up Nokia Oyj for cheap.
By 2012 Nokia would be relegated to a footnote in the modern history of mobile technology. Once Nokia has been fully co-opted into Microsoft, with all of Nokia's Finnish aftertaste diluted, they will then begin to try and create the 'third ecosystem', possibly with Windows Phone 8.
And may I add, a *very* distant third.
Why would they need so much time? nokia has the capability to produce phones already, and do, so then it's just some tweaks and slam windows on the smart one you would think.
Mind you you need 1GHz dual core at least if you wait more than 4 months, else you'll be laughed at, so if they can't do it sooner they will need a new phone that has such specs at minimum (if they don't already).
BTW, what they should have done is a deal with apple where you get a dumb $25 nokia free with every iphone so you can make calls too :D
Is there actually a more poorly executing software company than Microsoft? I would hate to have my wagon hitched to that one.
Nokia needs to have hand sets on the new OS within 90 days. Anything significantly longer is corporate suicide.
The N8 was a gastly, late product. Everything else even remotely smartphone related from Nokia has been arriving so late it misses the market by 6-12 months+. And they plan to sit around doing sod all with WinMo before deploying it? No wonder no one with any kind of sanity would touch anything with a Nokia sticker on it if they can help it.
The last time Nokia did anything remotely well was the Communicator 9100. They took forever with updates to that and eventually it faded away. The N95/6/7 were all crap to begin with and even worse when compared to what else was available.
Meanwhile we have HTC capable to banging out a new phone with whatever OS on it nearly every other week. This is what Nokia needs to be doing. Keeping fresh, keeping moving, and giving users choice. WinMo better than Symbian yes, but give users actual products not mythical creations which may or may not ever appear.
Windows Phone 7 sales are already going downhill.
It is headed in the same direction as Windows Mobile and the Microsoft Kin phone disaster.
Microsoft's licensing model is from an old era and no longer viable. Windows Phone 7 is missing the most basic features (eg can't tether to a laptop, can't set a custom ringtone). Microsoft still has not updated it, despite WP7 going RTM in August 2010.
There is no hope for this woeful Microsoft OS. Pretty interface, but under the surface it stinks.
Nokia was foolish and incompetent to think that its badge would suddenly raise Windows Phone 7 from the dead. The main thing that makes people choose a phone is the OS, not Nokia's badge. People want Android.
Nokia will fail, just like Windows Phone 7 will fail.
Nokia, priority number one: satisfy your customers, not Microsoft
This announcement by Nokia regarding to the first shipments of WP handsets is a non-event. What we should ask is, when can we expect new handsets from Nokia in stores, even with Symbian3 on it. I already mentioned in other blogs that it is a high priority for the existence of Nokia to introduce new handsets the very soonest and/or with a new, fresh and astonishing upgrade of its Symbian3 platform in the beginning of the second quarter of 2011 in the retail stores.
How hard can this be Nokia. You got all the greatest talent in marketing, innovation, plus not to mention, the money, the millions, the billions. (Otherwise, let's also put it this way, thus from a business point of view (you know, business principles), think about the great ROI you can make, right now the market is hot and booming). There are a lot of great quality handsets and great quality of User Interfaces (UI) and Operating Systems (OS) from other manufacturers. Nokia, take an example from it. Again, that cannot be a hard task for you, as a number one handset manufacturer of the world.
Nokia, it is your number one priority to satisfy your customers, not to drop them. Again, as i mentioned in others blogs, come with specific dates and it is important for you Nokia to come up with ....something... very soon. PUT THE PRESSURE ON IT.
So, for now, just forget about Microsoft if you really want to build a long term relationship with them.
The delay is obviously caused by Microsoft wanting/needing more time for development: call it WP8.
Knowing Microsoft (as we all do), expect to see that date pushed back to Q2 2012 by which time iPhone 6 and iPad 6 will be out and Microsoft will have to respond to that so expect further slippage to Q4 2012.
If Apple, as has been speculated, produce a low-cost iPhone then the bill of materials premium required to run Windows will hurt so much.
Game Over: Nokia/Microsoft lose.
Only Sony can beat Apple now and they do it by making a PS3 [sic] tablet with a BluRay player and the usual tablet bells and whistles and full 1920x1080 display. That would work :-)
By the time they decide to launch a product with WP7, they will either be taken by M$ or bankrupted. Nokia is going down slowly, they can't just fall like a rock, but their technology and OS is old and smartphone market is growing every day, less people will want a phone just to call and answer only, especially youngsters and business users. Smartphones will have lower and lower price because technology is improving so is the fabrication for hardware going cheaper I'm not saying that simple phones will die, but they won't be majority of markets in a few years. Nokia woke up a little late, early bird catches the worm:):)