Is Windows Phone putting all its eggs in the Nokia basket?

[Mitlov]

The Windows Phone facebook page (official page, with 1.1 million "likes") has six separate posts since Wednesday about the Lumia 900, which is released April 8, 2012. It has not posted about the HTC Titan II, which is also scheduled for release April 8, 2012, since March 26th (and I've only ever found one post about the Titan II on their page).

What's going on here? Is there some formal promotional arrangement between Microsoft and Nokia that doesn't exist between Microsoft and HTC? Or is this a pragmatic decision by Microsoft to put all eggs in the Nokia basket for one reason or another?

 

[cp2_4eva]

HTC hasn't been the best at trying to REALLY get they act together with windows phones. I mean why release a titan 2 that doesn't offer that much more than the previous titan. Still a decent phone, but HTC has many phones they are trying to promote. The WP7 platform in my opinion hasn't been proven in the eyes of HTC. They have put out so many phones that they cant stay dedicated to all of them. The One line is in the front now. Titan is old news.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

 

[tissotti]

What's going on here? Is there some formal promotional arrangement between Microsoft and Nokia that doesn't exist between Microsoft and HTC? Or is this a pragmatic decision by Microsoft to put all eggs in the Nokia basket for one reason or another?

There kind of is. Nokia is world largest cell phone manufacturer. Just in comparison HTC has 4200 workers, Nokia has 134 000 and 4 billion euros R&D budget.

Nokia decided to go all Windows Phone last year on smartphones. In a same time Nokia did let Microsoft use Nokia's industries largest patent portfolio (Nokia owns 60% of all GSM patents, it also has majority stake on LTE) against Windows Phone patent trolls and Nokia did let Microsoft use Nokia's 8.5 billion investment on Navteq, world second largest mapping company.

In favor Nokia was granted keys to modify Windows Phone ui and OS for it's liking. Plus things we don't know when it comes to marketing and license costs per phone. Microsoft also is giving Nokia around ~150 million every quarter for time being.


Just now Nokia is marketing Lumia in a big way on Times Square. Not somethng we have seen from HTC. Same that Nokia did around Europe.

 

[Mitlov]

I guess that makes sense. It's easy in America to forget how huge Nokia is, since until the 900 (and the 710 on T-Mobile), Nokia hasn't sold smartphones here in years. Whereas HTCs and Samsungs are everywhere. But you're right, HTC and Samsung are still primarily invested in Android, whereas Nokia is willing to put all its efforts into Windows Phone, so it makes sense for Microsoft to put all its efforts into Nokia.

 

[gregoron]

Noks rock! I came from a Nokia E61i to the 710. That was a brick of a phone.

 

[Premium1]

I think Nokia is the only real OEM that doesn't really have another solid platform they are developing phones for which is why MS is putting everything behind them. I mean HTC has android and their One line, Samsung has their galaxy line on android. Nokia does not have that so they can and seem to be putting everything into WP.

 

[Raptor007]

I welcome Nokia's tech, determination and design talent for the WP platform. What I really want is a Verizon Nokia WP8 device out in early Q4, not late Q4.

 

[cckgz4]

why wouldn't they? Nokia is devoted solely to windows while HTC does android on top of windows

 

[socialcarpet]

why wouldn't they? Nokia is devoted solely to windows while HTC does android on top of windows

Exactly, and Nokia is a much bigger company. We don't have an accurate perception of Nokia's reach here in the U.S. anymore because they almost disappeared from the U.S. market over the last few years.

They are still a massive company and have a significant presence everywhere else in the world.

That, combined with the fact that they have fully embraced the WP platform as their own and have a huge cooperative deal worked out with Microsoft and Microsoft has invested money in them.... versus other manufacturers like HTC who just make a token WP phone or two, means you should expect Microsoft to pay more attention to what Nokia's doing.

That said, they should encourage ANY manufacturer who is building good WP phones and HTC definitely fits in that category, so does Samsung.

I think Nokia is going to sort of be like the flagship WP phone maker though, so when Microsoft introduces a new version of WP, I would expect to see it on Nokia phones first. The "Nexus" Windows Phones are going to be Nokia's too. Look for Nokia to sort of set the tone for what specs and features Windows Phones should have in the future, then other manufacturers will use that as a guideline for their own

I'm excited to see more choices in the future though, I think if Nokia does well, it will be good for Windows Phones in general, you will probably see manufacturers like HTC and others become willing to invest a little more in Windows Phone and introduce more models.

 

[tekhna]

Exactly, and Nokia is a much bigger company. We don't have an accurate perception of Nokia's reach here in the U.S. anymore because they almost disappeared from the U.S. market over the last few years.

HTC's market capitalization is much larger than Nokia's.

 

[socialcarpet]

HTC's market capitalization is much larger than Nokia's.

That's true.

Android is their bread and butter and Android is hot right now, whereas Nokia has been on the decline for a while and Windows Phone is really only just beginning.

Windows Phone is probably not going to see the explosive growth Android did because Microsoft has stricter rules and isn't going to whore the OS out, in terms of letting any carrier and any OEM do whatever they want with it on any hardware regardless of the end user experience. Microsoft also doesn't have the benefit of the wide open field that Apple left for Google to exploit.

Nokia is taking a calculated risk here, that Windows Phone 7/8 will experience steady growth and that it will enable them to differentiate their products from their competitors, rather than taking the easy way and going with Android like everyone else.

It could go really well, or it might not work out, but I respect Nokia for having the integrity to go "all in" on this deal and that's one of the reasons they got my business.

I'm taking a risk by signing a 2 yr contract on a phone OS that barely has 3% of the market, but Nokia is right there taking that risk with me, they have some skin in the game. I don't believe for one second that HTC or Samsung would have had a software fix for the data issue Nokia just did in a WEEK and refunded everyone $99, for example. They'd have no reason to bend over backwards to make 0.5% their customers happy, they are too busy catering to the Android heathens.

I will admit, I have a strong bias (maybe even borderline hatred) of Android, so the fact that Nokia told Android to take a flying f*ck earned them my eternal gratitude. Someone had to have the courage to do something DIFFERENT.