Analyst: "Microsoft will fail with Nokia handsets"

[theefman]

I have news for you, man... Nokia is neither known nor high-profile anymore. When I got my first 920, my friends were shocked that Nokia was still making phones. And my friends aren't clueless n00bs, either.

Key point is "anymore" but fact is they were aware that they did make phones at one point, in their view.


But maybe the real question should be, is the brand MS uses going forward going to be strong enough to sell WP? Will they go with something new or stick with Lumia and is THAT name a strong enough to continue where Nokia left off?

 

[Reflexx]

That only applies to people who keep track of such things or current users like us, anyone who was simply aware of Nokia in the past but is oblivious to all this will have no connection to the new phones under Microsoft's branding. Then its all on MS's rep and brand which wont have the pull of Nokia's.

Asha will still have Nokia branding. But MS will be bringing MS elements to it so that they can eventually upgrade comfortably to an entry level WP.

For Smartphones, MS is keeping the Lumia branding. A consumer who is familiar with Nokia Lumia can pretty easily figure out that it's the same line but just under different ownership.

 

[hary536]

Asha will still have Nokia branding. But MS will be bringing MS elements to it so that they can eventually upgrade comfortably to an entry level WP.

For Smartphones, MS is keeping the Lumia branding. A consumer who is familiar with Nokia Lumia can pretty easily figure out that it's the same line but just under different ownership.

The Asha touch series already has some live-tiles like interface instead of round icons.

 

[hopmedic]

My impressions, just touching on a few things...... First, as others have said, obviously a former Nokia employee with a grudge. Lost his job due to "Elop'pian" cuts, maybe? The biggest thing I see here is that anytime someone is so full of themselves ("I was the first", "I was most accurate"), I have a hard time giving any credibility to anything else they say, since they've obviously started out with lies.

Here are some quotes that I really like </sarcasm>


Really, I don't see Skype as a problem for carriers. I mean, aren't plans shifting to data plans? I mean I shifted plans from a family plan with unlimited data and 1400 minutes to a family plan with unlimited minutes and limited data. I know I'm not the only situation, but it seems to me that more and more, it's data they're selling, not talk. I mean, can you even talk on a phone anymore? Does Skype work without some sort of data connection? I'll have to do some testing to try that out.......

He says a lot of things that sound like they could make sense, unless you know more than what he's saying. He's not telling you that it was AFTER MS bought Skype that Verizon came out and said they were going to push Windows Phone (and they have). He's leading you to believe that Windows Phone is bloated when in actuality it requires far less computing power than Android.

He's just a sore ex-employee on a rant. Nothing to see here - move along.

He was not a Nokia employee that lost job after Elop came in.
And there is a valid argument if not correct. He is right that Elop and MS have said that carriers were reluctant in adopting skype.
That may also be the reason why Skype is still not integrated in WP. Also if you don't remember, when Nokia was selling Symbian phones,
skype app was available on Nokia's Ovi store and Nokia wanted to bundle it pre-loaded on their symbian phone that they wanted to sell on Verizon.
Verizon had not allowed Nokia to pre-load it or show any direct link to download skype. People had to search for the app in the store to download it.

I have seen Nokia's Symbian and WP days and there are some valid arguments in that post. I may not agree with all, but doesn't mean they are wrong or invalid.

The same issue was with Nokia maps since they are full offline. If you look at 1020 announcement, Elop made a joke about it indicating that AT&T was not
happy with full offline maps.(Since they want you to use more data).

Btw, Skype works on wi-fi too, not just data.

1. Ummm... The question mark means that I was ASKING if he'd lost his job due to Elop. In the English language a question mark is generally not taken to mean that it is ending a statement.
2. Never said he didn't have valid arguments. It's just hard to see them through the blowing of his own horn, and the sling from breaking his arm patting himself on the back.
3. Skype works on wifi???? NO WAY!!! Thanks for telling me. I didn't realize that Wifi was "some sort of data connection"!!!! I'm so glad you told me!!

So you haven't disputed anything I said.

 

[Doctor Pork]

Seriously, it's Toni Ahonen. He is about as biased against windows phone as you can get, and someone actually even made an entire blog/wiki to refute all the crap he was putting out on his blog.

Dominies Communicate | Continuous corrections to false statements about mobile

Sure, in a way he was right that Nokia couldn't turn the smartphone business around fast enough, but he is right in the same sense as someone who who would have spent the entire nineties standing with a sign outside World Trade Center warning for terrrorists. Sure, he would have been right on 9/11, but hardly due to any particular insight about the future.He merely stuck to one view and repeated it ad nasueum.

 

[Castor Troy]

Asha will still have Nokia branding. But MS will be bringing MS elements to it so that they can eventually upgrade comfortably to an entry level WP.

For Smartphones, MS is keeping the Lumia branding. A consumer who is familiar with Nokia Lumia can pretty easily figure out that it's the same line but just under different ownership.

I personally believe that MS biggest mistake will be killing off the Nokia branding. They should do what Google is doing with Motorola. Leaving the Motorola branding in place. The Nokia brand is very strong globally (even stronger than Motorola) and killing it off is an asinine move that could prove to be very problematic moving forward, in my opinion.

 

[Sebsweden]

I agree with the cereal-guy! Nokia is a brand that a lot of people like, they should have kept it

 

[Castor Troy]

brand strength/recognition value + strong products + strong distribution channels = increased sales and market share

MS having control of the device (with branding in place) along with the direct connection to the consumer is a pretty potent combo. They should seriously reconsider their position on this (killing off the Nokia brand)

 

[Reflexx]

I personally believe that MS biggest mistake will be killing off the Nokia branding. They should do what Google is doing with Motorola. Leaving the Motorola branding in place. The Nokia brand is very strong globally (even stronger than Motorola) and killing it off is an asinine move that could prove to be very problematic moving forward, in my opinion.

They're not killing it. They can't. They don't own it.

Nokia owns the Nokia branding. Nokia is letting them keep the branding on feature phones for up to 10 yrs.

 

[ChMar]

And nokia branding around the world is not so strong when it comes to smartphones. In US it has less visibility than even blackberry and in Europe nokia is mostly remembered for the days before iphone smartphone era. But remember the deal is not yet approved and will come in fruition much later

 

[JustToClarify]

You could say the same thing about anybody.

His main focus the past few years was predicting that Nokia would go bankrupt or switch to Android. Waaaay off on both. Nokia is going to be in an awesome financial position, and since they are selling their mobile division it's obviously not going to make Android phones.

well how was he not right there? They didn't switch to Android and their mobile division got sold off, if not for that they would go bankrupt after some time. If they didn't hire elop and switched to Android they would certainly fare a lot better than this, I don't claim they would still hold 30-40% of the market but even 15-20% is significantly more than 3-4%...

 

[Reflexx]

well how was he not right there? They didn't switch to Android and their mobile division got sold off, if not for that they would go bankrupt after some time. If they didn't hire elop and switched to Android they would certainly fare a lot better than this,

And why do you believe this?

MS had to invest a lot of money into Nokia to help them with their transition.

Nobody was going to do that if they went Android. No money cushion.

I don't claim they would still hold 30-40% of the market but even 15-20% is significantly more than 3-4%...

They'd have to be able to be in business for any of your Android scenarios to happen. But Google was not willing to help them out financially. Google was not willing to be their customer for the location services that they wanted to grow.

 

[bilzkh]

As much of a good brand Nokia is, I have to an honest realization that in it might not matter. Even in their traditionally strong markets, Nokia's smartphones are not catching on fast enough to be considered a heavyweight player. Sure, 10-15% here and there is great, but the real powerhouses are still Samsung and the ultra low-end OEMs. What we need now is for Microsoft to bind WP hardware and software into a singular brand, call it Lumia, Nova, etc. -- just give it a good name, and push *that* as *the* alternative to iPhone and Galaxy to end-users. Hit all the price points with leading products (in terms of quality and performance at the particular rate).

 

[iamtim]

just give it a good name, and push *that* as *the* alternative to iPhone and Galaxy to end-users

+1

Google has its Nexus, Apple has its iPhone, Samsung has its Galaxy. Microsoft should have its Lumia.

 

[majortom1981]

What most people do not realize is that Most of microsofts hardware products have been high quality. I have owned a ton of Microsoft hardware. I even had a Microsoft router. Everything has been high quality. they just stop supporting it. The one exception was the xbox 360.

I do not think the hardware itself will be the problem but how long the hardware is supported.

 

[ejb222]

this is total troll post....First of all didn't anyone check the OP's link for facts? Second of all after the OP he turns into flame throwing...lock this one up.

 

[squire777]

The blog post in the OP sounded just like someone who has a lot of bitterness towards MS. There wasn't much fact there aside from personal opinions and drawing conclusions based on circumstantial evidence. Basically just throwing all sorts of anti-MS **** at the wall and hoping it sticks.

Not worthy of this much discussion.

 

[anon(7808135)]

Windows phone are the crappiest phones ever. JK, They are amazing and fluid just like My Blackberry Z10. I would take a Blackberry and a Windows phone. Forever live Blackberry and Nokia and one day, They will be in the Spotlight instead of IOS or Android.

 

[MikeSo]

Look. The guy writes this:

Never above 4% is my solid prediction. Soon we will have 'third ecosystems' that do better than that, my bet is on Tizen but we might have others too, like Firefox, Sailfish, perhaps even a recovery by Blackberry, not to mention Palm's WebOS via LG and HP's return to smartphones.

He believes Sailfish or WebOS will grab 4% of the smart phone market. Let me repeat that: He believes Sailfish or WebOS will grab 4% of the smart phone market, while WP will never.

Adjust your skepticism accordingly.

 

[spaulagain]

Look. The guy writes this:

He believes Sailfish or WebOS will grab 4% of the smart phone market. Let me repeat that: He believes Sailfish or WebOS will grab 4% of the smart phone market, while WP will never.

Adjust your skepticism accordingly.

Ya, that right there says it all. The guy is on crack. WP is already at 3.9% and well above 8% in many countries. Not to mention those other two OSes are beyond fringe, even BB has more luck then they do.