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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."
While Nokia used to account for 1 in every 3 phones sold worldwide, they are down to 28.9 percent. Holy Cow, they lost a whole 4.4%?! That's a really interesting way to make it sound like a big loss, when it's really not.
My sig is blank, I typed this by hand.
Hopefully more competition will give us new features on phones and maybe a drive for better service.
Free Flat Screen
Is it really worth it to have 35 new phone models?
The article says that Nokia's problem is not having features that consumers want, like clam-shell phones. Yet their solution is not to include those features in their new phones, but to offer consumers 35 different models this year (only 6 of those are clam-shell). I'm all about consumer choice, but does this make sense to anyone?
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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Nokia's phones have recently been designed really poorly, IMHO. They are either too big or have a weird, non-standard design that doesn't always improve functionality.
That being said, for the most part, their GSM phones work better than most of their competitors for call quality and reception, but their competitors are quickly catching up!
Doh!
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
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
How could they possibly be doing poorly when they invented the wonder of sidetalking?
Vandemar.org
I, for one, don't care about "interchangable faceplates" when the devices themselves are of somewhat dated design.
The features that are "luring customers away from Nokia" are the reasons I stick with Nokia. I never liked clamshell phones, more because no one seems to do it quite right than any other reason. AND I hate the idea of a camera phone. On so many levels.
:)
I've had three Nokias, a Motorola, and a Samsung in my cell phone career, and the Nokias have all been the best. Well, except for the first one, but that was at the birth of cell phone popularity, so I don't really pin it on Nokia. It was the best at the time
Then....
This model looks kinda goofy, but anyway... S90 will have full support for mp3, AAC and so on.
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Who would ever need a Nokia when SonyEricsson has the P910!
The _perfect_ phone/PDA.
However, Nokia is a smart company. What do they care if they have 35 models? The average (not anyone reading slashdot) Cell phone user cares about two things: One, the phone looks good to them, and right now this means flip phones. And two, the phone has the features they want. That second request is going to be different for every person.
It is this diversity that can help nokia. A soccer mom who calls a max of 10 minutes a day and a corporate executive who needs a high capacity battery are two totally different segments of the market. However the Nokia brand can keep both by releasing phones taylored for each.
Lastly, you'd be surpirsed how many millions of people hate learning a "new" phone. I personally can't stand nokia phones, they're bulky, have features I never need, and I can't seem to get used to the menus. But I hear from everyone i know with one that "they're so easy to use." And if you know how to use one nokia, you know how to use them all. That's their best kept secret.
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.
Well, first of all, Nokia has been very successful in the cell phone market, and generally when you have high-quality competing players, the competition kicks in, and things even out. Nokia boasted 34.7% global marklet share in 2003, and in Q1 2004 grew in European region with those new concept devices like N-Gage and what not. Suchy growth is hardly sustainable, especially when competition largely is just as good.
Second, US is a large market for cell phones in regards to global sales. However, few of US customers ever choose their cellphones, since in the United States the phones are purchased by the operator, not customer. Which still creates some sort of competition, but it's way tougher to push newer phones and newer features, while the operator still has the year-old models available and runs those commercial "and now get a free blah-blah-blah phone with the signup for 1-year plan".
Realistically I think slipping to 28.9% is not too big of a deal, and Nokia will kick back after maybe just one sweet deal with US operator like Cingular or Verizon, where new models get pushed.
I second that.
My first phone was functional for 2 years, and although the always new nokia models look like neato toys. They're too expensive to keep up, like these kids these days buy phones as they boy clothes. It's more "image" then functionality...
My current cellphone is I think 3 yrs now and does what it always has been doing, and only what it should. I have no new reason to upgrade, and that's the problem if you make cellphones; once you sold eveyone one (sort of speak) you need to get them to upgrade even though the phones still work.
So, you bloathe the thing with games (N-gage), "supercool extra's" and personalized designs. Ofcourse, you pay for all that too.
Not for me though, thank you very much.
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
Hmmm...the way nokia seems to be going, pretty soon, you'll have phones that you can put on the ground and play that dance-on-the-lit-squares-to-really-bad-music game... .
.
.
.
oh, wait a minute....people are already doing it without waiting for the game to be programmed into the phone....i think it's called stomp-the-phone...whatever happened to just talking into a phone *sigh*
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
Hello Nokia! If you're reading this, we have already figured out your trick: You never sell a phone will all the features. I guess you do this to artificially "keep the hunger up" for your phones, because people will then have to buy a phone which has one more feature the next year. And then again.
Well we have found out your trick already 3 years ago. Other companies sell phones with the whole nine yards, and they're light too. So we now buy these phones. Bad Nokia, bad!
If you want my business back, give me a phone that has every feature in it. Every acronym, even if I don't know what it means. I want to have it. It's some sort of spiritiual thing, you know.
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!
I wanted a phone with
color screen, GPRS and polyphonic sounds
3 phones fitted the above options and and were equally priced
Nokia 3200
Sony Ericsson T 210
Samsung SGH-C100
Used each phone for 10 mins and the user friendliness of Nokia was outstanding
Striving to be common...
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
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.
.. that can make phone calls and NOT take pictures (Ah!), NOT allow changing a faceplate in under 5 seconds (Oh!) and NOT do something else as usefull as baking a cake or running an embedded Java (why not Perl, BTW ? ;)).
:-/
Seriously, I've been looking for a new phone with no extra features - just wanted GSM phone, which is light and small to carry in a pocket. It also must look good, but that's subjective. Something like this (Nokia 8910), but triband or at least Canada-compatible.
And guess what - I'm still looking
3.243F6A8885A308D313
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 strongers players and winner candidates are those with best reserves and profitability and preferably other branches of business. For example the chips company like AMD which supported the unprofitable cpu line with cash-cow flash-memory business for years.
Nokia has large reserves, good profibility and high market share going for it. It needs to sacrifice both the reserves and profibility to save the market share though. Sony-Erickson, motorola and Samsung have other business branches they can use to wage the pricewar. In the end there will be just two major phone manufacturers.
The longer the pricewar continues, the more upper hand the multi-branches companies will gain over Nokia. This would put Nokia in a position where it in order to survive needs to merger with a profitable company in a different business which can support it over the war. I for one welcome our new Microsoft-Nokia overlords!
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. --
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
They might sell more phones if they didn't put stupid non-standard keypads on all of theirs. I know I used to love Nokia, but I switched to Sony Ericcsons for the Bluetooth, Java, and a normal keypad. I never use the stupid camera on the phone.
I have a website. It's about Macs.
I loved my Nokia phone. But I wanted it to sync with my computer, and Nokia didn't have any Bluetooth phones for sale in the US. So, I got a Sony Ericsson.
The Sony Ericsson is slow and poor quality compared to my Nokia, but Nokia still only have one Bluetooth phone on the market, and have a ton of stupid designs--circular keyboards, keyboards with two buttons on each key, slanted keypads, and so on. Idiots.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Python isn't.
1. i am not surprised that they will be relasing a lot of models this year. probably it will be a model something like xx10 xx15 xx20 xx25 xx30. all featuring the same system with different casings, or different software features. the problem with this is that it is difficult to choose phones with only one feature compared to a competitor with feature rich phones. for example, you either choose a colored screen, one with flashlight, one with fm radio, one with camera, one with bluetooth.
2. nokia phones are expensive and devalue quickly. in our country, turn over for phones are very quick (i've been using 4 different mobile phones for the last 2 years and plan on upgrading to sonyericsson p910 - i've used p800 and using p900 now.) the problem is that nokia phones are sold at a high price initially but quickly goes down. the phone cannot be sold at a reasonable price. compare this with sonyericsson t68 that lost just around 60% of its face value years ago (probably around 3 at least.) with nokia phones, the prices go down at around 50% in just a few months (not talking about half a year here!) people get pissed and they just buy other phones. i am not afraid of selling my existing p900 at a huge loss.
3. quality of phones. the old ones are good but i think the new ones are not of good quality. nokia phones sold in our country had problems with the lcd screens in different models. the solution is to change the screen which is quite expensive (considering the price of the phone has been devalued.) many new phones are of better quality. take for example my previous p800 where it is full of scratches as it fell and fell. the same with my p900 - hasn't failed me yet. i'm quite impressed with how they handle falls (as in around > 1 meter from the ground that is hard.) being a smartphone with a big and touch sensitive screen , i haven't had problems. compare this with my old nokia that i have to replace the lcd around twice already.
4. lastly, i think that the competitors just release better phones (both features and design.) back when nokia was dominant, they was no design and feature for other mobile phones that was even close. all were yucky (bulky, expensive and featureless.) but now, the others have innovated and introduced lots of new features and nokia didn't quite catch up. now this is a problem for them. as a sidenote, i watched in discovery channel about a documentary of samsung. i'm amazed on how they design mobile phones including their turn over time for design to market in only 6 months (they claim it is half of their nearest competitors!)
anyway, this is a problem with nokia and may only be limited to them. other manufacturers are enjoying growth. it's now quite interesting to see the market on who will dominate (but i guess it will be samsung overtaking them in a year's time.) i'll be waiting for the mobile phone wars. probably new features and designs will be accelerated and, of course, consumers will be able to benefit. though japan is enjoying the cool features, i can't wait for my phone to have wifi capabilities for seamless roaming and camera of at least 2 megapixels. :)
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