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Nokia Losing its Cell Phone Dominance
supersandra writes "The Boston Globe is reporting that Nokia is struggling to offer features, such as cameras and flip-phones, that are luring customers away to phones by other brands such as Motorola, Samsung, and Siemens. While Nokia used to account for 1 in every 3 phones sold worldwide, they are down to 28.9 percent. Nokia plans to bring 35 new phone models to market this year to win back more users."
Hopefully more competition will give us new features on phones and maybe a drive for better service.
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I loved the 5510 when it came out,
:(
QWERTY and MP3.. allright!!
I was rather upset when the 6800 came out with no MP3
I now have a 6800 for my phone still pine over my 5510, being as im too lazy to get an MP3 palyer for soem reson, or maybe i just hate carryign aroudn too many differnt things.
but back ontopic, i couldnt belive they took a step back with the ''replacemnt'' model like htat, copyright issues or what ever they used to jsutifiy it, and on a moot point, when will they bring out a phones that can play mp3s as the ring tones etc.
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Next time they won't assume consumers will buy any piece of crap with a cell radio stapled to it. I'm sure the next year will have some nicely designed nokia phones now that they have been humbled.
I know I'm leaving Sprint, which sells and promotes tons of Nokia phones, because T-Mobile offers camera phones and (most importantly) BLUETOOTH.
Every other major cell phone service provider has had bluetooth compatible phones for a while, but not Sprint. If people are leaving the providers that Nokia sells the majority of their phones thought, they will definatly be losing marketshare.
~Donald
~Donald / Just RTFM
What happened to mobile (cell) phones that just make phone calls and send SMS? They're turning rather rapidly into PDAs.
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What i think the oohone market shoudl look at moving to is custom phones, or at lest semi custom.
Order body X, featuers Y,ZA and C.
I put off geting a new phone becase i couldnt get what i wanted, in the end i finaly had to get a compromise, but thats life i guess.
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This seems a bit overkill to me. I feel like this is more of a knee-jerk reaction than a solid business move for some reason. Perhaps the real question is not "how far can we boost our market share with these 35 new phones," but instead should be "what's wrong with our existing phones?"
Realistically, you shouldn't have to add this many different products to your line to snag the coveted clamshell and camera buyers.
I bought a Motorola MPX200 a little under a year ago because I could write software for the damned thing, but before that I had always been a Nokia owner. Clearly, this is not a standard line of reasoning for most buyers. Nevertheless, perhaps Nokia should make it a little more obvious where their SDKs live for their phones and hold student developer contests or something.
iRooster, the Mac OS X a
Who would ever need a Nokia when SonyEricsson has the P910!
The _perfect_ phone/PDA.
The user interface of a pushbutton telephone is such a simple thing, yet almost every Nokia phone breaks the rules, or bends it so far it hurts.
4 rows of 3 numbers (plus # and *), equally sized. Is that really too much to ask for?
If Nokia could stick to this simple rule, I'd have bought another one. I now have a Sony Ericsson phone.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
What is the main advantage to having a bluetooth enaabled phone? I guess when I shop I look for reasonable price, tri-band (Not a lot of digital coverage in the rural West of USA), and maybe a good selection of features from the service provider such as internet.
As I understand it, Bluetooth allows two different electronic devices to interact, but what would a bluetooth cell phone do? Interact with a PDA/Laptop? I've searched around on Google, and mainly it's the typical sales sites without any real information on the benefits.
Basically, it comes down to a question from me: Should I look for a bluetooth enabled phone for my next cell phone?
Nokia is too expensive. For half the price I can buy Siemens with the same functionality.
SHE does throw dice.
N'way, my point being that by the time some of those new handsets make it to market here many consumers may just be starting to forget about Nokia. Credit where it's due though, T-mobile got the 6600 out fairly fast. But then they're not an American (or CDMA) carier either. Just my $0.02
It doesn't make sense to me, since the whole Nokia dominance thing came up with Nokia having more store space than almost every other company, and their phones being the most included with plans in the beginning. Having that many models means some of them will not be in all stores, which means no matter how much choice Nokia offers, the consumers won't see all of them.
So Nokia will pay R&D and marketing, but it will not reach potential users.
Anyone else sees this as a "Nokia can't get so and so feature on the same single phone, so they're trying to have a model per feature, instead of doing research on what features go together in users minds, and concentrating on those models which will actually satisfy them"?
In other markets it makes sense to concentrate a company's strengths to where the most impact is felt, why isn't Nokia doing that?
The real bummer about this is that Nokia has far and away the most open platform for development of any phone manufacturer. They provide a huge array of sdk's and example code for both symbian and j2me developers.
Contrast this with an LG phone running brew on verizon and you have to pay all kinds of money and jump through all kinds of hoops just to write an app that verizon decides it doesn't want to distribute anyway.
My (very small) company is developing a cellphone app, and the costly barrier for starting Brew/Verizon devleopment is preventing us from using that platform. You pay through the nose for the development suite, then it's 300 bucks to register as a qcomm developer, then you have to jump through all of these verisign hoops to get a DRM key to sign your apps with, then you have to mail in your phone to be flashed into development mode, then you have to deal with verizon for distribution.
Meanwhile we're downloading compilers, tools, and example apps off the net for the nokia symbian platform that just work on an unmodded handset we bought at the store.
I think they could increase their sales a bit if they'd offer a phone that JUST MAKES CALLS. I don't want to play games. I don't want voice features. I don't mind customized rings, but I don't need them either. I especially don't want the bloody animations whenever I do anything with the phone- I just want it to do whatever it was I asked it, and then stop showing off so I can press more keys without waiting for the phone!!!
I can't believe I'm alone- there must be a lot more folks out there who just want a phone!
It does when one of those choices is the 6255. To quote the meat of the link
Nokia released its most advanced CDMA handset, the 6255, at the recent CTIA show in Atlanta. Unusually for Nokia, the 6255 is a clamshell phone and introduces many features previously unseen in any of their phones. Dual color screens, MMC memory card support, a camera with flash and digital zoom, video player, streaming media capability, an MP3/AAC player and FM radio are among the features that make the 6255 one of the most powerful clamshells on the market.
Unfortunately for Nokia, a large flood of choices might not help them. They really need to drive the next innovation. Being so late to the flip phone party as well as supporting crappy components even on their high end, has burned them badly. They needed flip with mega pixel on the market 6 months ago. Unfortunately the phone linked above isn't slated to come out until the end of this year (according to the link), and it isn't even mega-pixel. I think this one model will do quite a bit of good (above is the CDMA model, but I believe theres a GSM version as well). OTOH, flip isn't everything. Its been a hole in their product lineup, but that doesn't mean every phone they release from now on should be a flip. Nokia's got pretty deep pockets, and plenty of innovative ideas. I'm sure they'll weather this little storm.
I ate my sig.
I used to have a Nokia 2160 phone a long time ago and it was great. Not so long ago I purchased a Nokia 3310 GSM and it sucked. After a few months it became crazy. A lot of funny things appeared on the screen. Here in the third world warranties don't last long so I had to buy another phone. This time I sent nokia to hell and bought a Siemens C35. That phone rocks. It has better features (the only thing that sucks is the tune editor) than the nokia, was less expensive and has way better quality. I have a friend who has an siemens phone from about 5 years ago and he sais the phone has never broke. It even fell on a bucket with water and soap (for a mop) and it didn't break. He continues to use it and says it's the best pohne in the world.
My heart is pure, but make no mistake, it's pure evil
I don't want 5 million features I don't want or need in a $5,000 phone. I just want a couple of useful features in a nice inexpensive phone I won't be afraid to actually use.
For me, the following would be perfect:
Folds up to protect the screen from my pocket.
Monochrome display, just large enough to display the info I need, maybe 3-4 lines. Placed somewhere that won't be pressed up against my cheek when I'm making a call, making me have to wipe it off every time I make a call. Color uses too much batteries.
A ringtone that sounds like a phone. This is a pet peeve, I don't want some annoying song to play when I get a call, I just want something to let me know I have a call, that's it.
Good reception. I want to be able to use my phone from my basement or my office building.
Rugged. Should take at the very least a 3-foot drop.
That's it! You could probably sell this phone for $50 with a HUUGE profit margin, and I'd buy it.
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Because the old models are more durable than anything by Motorola, Samsung, or the rest.
.0001 inches), or a cheap Chinese knockoff. I've got a Federal indicator that's pre *WWII* by the looks of it. It's just as smooth and accurate as anything new.
I've dropped mine on concrete, had it go skidding 'cross the shop floor, etc etc etc.
It still works. The only thing it could use is a new plastic shell.
I dropped a Motorola *once*. Within a week, the screen died.
My Nokia is an old 3390. It doesn't fold in half and doesn't have an external antenna. It doesn't have a camera. It doesn't have a fancy qwerty thumb keyboard. The display is rugged. Since the case is an external component to the phone itself, cracking the case isn't always going to crack the phone itself.
IOW, it's well engineered, even for a cheap phone. This probably (definitely) means that people aren't replacing them as often as say...Motorola phones.
It's like whether you buy a Federal Products dial indicator (I've got 3, plus 2 CDI indicators graduated in
You can have my 3390 when you pry it from my cold dead fingers.
--
BMO
I'm not too thrilled with Nokia myself. I've had several in my lifetime (including the old analogue Nokia phones, THEY were built well) and Nokia just keeps slipping into the more and more disposable, crap, not worth keeping type of workmanship.
I had a Samsung R225 (TMobile) as one of my first digital cell phones. I actually liked it. Small, slim, no convoluted button design. The menus were clear and everything just worked fine. Except for the hands-free... This model came with a proprietary plug that had a grounding ring on it that often shorted out.
One year later, while still having good luck with the Samsung, I was allowed a free phone upgrade on my contract. Picked up the Nokia 3595 (also TMobile, though AT&T have a nearly identical model)... Biggest piece of shit I've ever used. Most of the software didn't work, turning on the phone with the SIM card in often led to errors... reinserting the SIM card several times before turning it back on again (AND this was a BRAND NEW PHONE!) MIGHT have gotten it to work. TZones (TMobile's wireless internet) often choked. Just never could connect. I exchanged the phone for a replacement (same model) and STILL had the same problems. Text messaging adaptive features just bit the big one. After getting used to T9 on the Samsung phone, this Nokia was just a total PITA to even try to type anything on.
So I complained. The tech wiped my contract extension off my account so I could get another phone on the contract extension. No taking any chances, I just paid $200 for the Samsung E105. Clamshell, no accidental dialing. Small. Thin. SUPER thin. Well designed. Works perfectly. I love it. I mainly got it because it was one of the last models I could find that DIDN'T have a camera built into it. And I love it. Everyone I know who has also gotten a similar model from Samsung also rave about it. I'm afraid of what will happen when Samsung starts making even shittier phones, just like many other companies have done. Nokia being the big standout in this case. Many crappy phones right after the other. The people who complain the most about their phones tend to be the Nokia users. (This from my own personal experience _and_ what the sales rep at the TMobile store informed me of.)
I know the reputation that clamshells have (and it's at least partially deserved) but having owned a variety of phones (flip phones and otherwise) IMO clamshells absolutely cannot be beat for convenience.
One big issue I have is that I do a lot of travel, and depend on my cell phone for client communications. That means being able to answer the phone quickly when a client or contact calls (frequently I find that if I miss a call, it may be *days* before I can contact that client again).
The thing I like about flip phones is that you open it to take a call, and close it to finish the calls. With non-flip phones, you can leave the keyboard unlocked to take calls, but then you have to deal with accidently dialing people when the phone is in your pocket or bag. Or, you can lock the keyboard, but that gets in the way when you want to make a call, or want to receive a call and you can't forget the unlock combination or the "quick key" to answer the call.
My next phone will most definitely be a flip phone.
The second reason is the clamshell models have a better 'ear to mouth' length advantage, which is difficult to obtain with the 'block' design unless you want to make the phone 'thin and long' like one of those Sanyo models, which again are more prone to breakage.
The third reason is the 'ear frying' problem with some of the non-clamshell models (I have noticed this problem with many 'block' phones, atleast when they are new). Because of the proximity of the heat producing components to the earpiece and due to conduction, the region around the earpiece becomes quite warm to cause significant discomfort. But this problem is non-existant with the clamshell, because the bulk of the heat producing electronics is away from the earpiece with little or no conduction.
The fourth reason being the less scratch prone screen and buttons. Also you dont have the problem of accidental dialing from the speed dial buttons when carrying around, or the discharge of the battery from the frequent turn on due to the accidental key presses.
The case of Nokia is like a 'hare and tortoise' story, they were sleeping when the others were running. If you have observed the company, there was not much activity atleast for the past 18 months, not many new phones or variety (like clamshell or camera phones). Not much of advertising, so they were effectively getting erased from the collective memory of the consumers. They were in the hibernate mode, now you see the results.
The ability to clacklist certain numbers would get me buying a phone. It's #1 on my desired features list for my next phone, which is probably why I haven't yet bought an other phone - NO phones seem to offer the ability to blacklist (or auto decline) the most important number of all - Number Withheld. If Nokia actually implemented useful functionality such as this in just ONE of their phones instead of concentrating in making them look weird/stupid and play ever larger numbers of Java games, they'd have earned a sale from me, that's for sure.
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
The real question is, do any of these 35 phones run Linux?
It's because they're focusing on the stupid kiddies that want a fucking camera/MP3 player/ICBM launcher/Jesus in a cage on their phones, as opposed to people who want to make phone calls.
I'm sick of the fucking penis waving that goes on in the UK with regard to phones. At my old school, there were people changing phones every week because they wanted a camera or other such shit.
Ack, retards...
By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
OTOH, my startac, maybe three years old, is mechanically in very good condition. I had to replace my original because it got water in it and rusted the electronics. It may be that new phones are not as durable, but that is true across the board.
Frankly I would be terribly afraid to carry around those long thin phones. I think it would be very easy to accidently develop enough torque at the midpoint to snap it. Even more silly are those phones that have a bulge for the antennae.
Also, I have no need to pay for such overengineering. My temper is well under control, i stay away from psychos, and if I want at attack someone i live in a state where i can carry gadgets made for such a purpose.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
is a mobile phone that takes 2 sim cards and can use both at the same time.
I have a mobile phone of my own, up to now I've not taken a work phone as I don't want to take 2 phones with me everywhere. surely it can't be too difficult to have 2 sims in a phone, both acive so that you can get calls on either number (each having it's own contract and possibly, different operator) and the phone call tell you who it's from and what number it's going to, so you can see at a glance what the situation is. ideally you could maintain 2 seperate address books too, ie a work and a home one (possibly a field in a single address book maybe)
yes, you can get dualo sim adapters for phones, but thats crap as it's an "either or" situation. you can only have 1 active at once which isn't good enough. I have my home phone on my desk at work and no-one minds if I get personal calls on it.
dave