There are clear indications that Nokia is losing the smartphone market due to lots of reasons. For over a decade, Nokia’s dominance was almost undisputed as demand for Symbian OS kept rising till the emergence and rapid growth of iOS and Android over the years. Nokia tried several updates to stay alive in the market by upgrading its Symbian platform but obviously, this hasn’t helped much. From Symbian ^3, we saw Symbian Anna and Belle which hasn’t made much difference.
Meego OS was discontined and Maemo too isn’t so much in demand. These are clear indications that Nokia definitely has to change its marketing strategy. According to its financial report published last month, Nokia recorded a loss of $1.7 billion in the first quarter of the year and this proves that the Lumnia series running Windows 7 are yet to pay off either.
From a personal stand point, I know a couple of people who used to believe so much in Symbian OS but not anymore. People now prefer Android or iOS and that is the real problem Nokia is facing. The competition from Apple and Samsung is suffocating Nokia and its native operating system which it’s not willing to give up. There are several factors responsible for this huge loss and the drastic drop in sales.
Sluggish OS
Don’t get it twisted, I’m not saying Symbian OS is that bad, but we all know phones like Nokia N96, N97 are so slow and Series 60v5 OS came with lots of bugs. That’s probably the reason Symbian OS underwent series of upgrades in such a little time but lots of people were already losing faith in Symbian OS as a capable operating system. Nokia N8 revolutionized Symbian OS for a while but I still don’t understand why Nokia N9, which should be a more powerful version of N8, came with Meego OS which was discontinued within a short time.
It’s like Nokia made it clear that it was losing faith in Symbian OS. Maemo OS too didn’t go down too well with consumers either.
Nokia looks and sounds old
Seriously, Nokia now sounds old school. This sounds like a personal thing and I don’t expect you to throw bricks at me for that. The Symbian OS still looks and feels the same and believe me, it’s getting boring. I’ve been using Nokia phones for the past five years and its like you get bored with the same old thing. You might want to argue that Nokia 808 Pureview with 41MP camera is a great innovation and I’m not arguing that but instead of experimenting with all sorts of operating systems, Symbian OS should have been polished, improved and marketed the right way.
We all see how Samsung came from obscurity to dominate the smartphone market. Samsung knew what consumers wanted and became a force to be reckoned with when it comes to producing great smartphones.
Something wrong with the administration?
Stephen Elop has made some bad decisions and this has probably impacted greatly on the loss Nokia recorded. There has been lots of inconsistency lately and we’ve seen Nokia experimenting with all sorts of OS and more recently, the partnership with Windows which hasn’t been profitable.
Elop is from Microsoft but his administration hasn’t been the best, symbian is dying fast and the replacement isn’t doing so well.
Will Nokia ever bounce back from this decline?
Android is so much in demand now but I doubt if we will ever see a Nokia smartphone running Android OS. The focus now seems to have shifted to WP7 but then again, Nokia seems to be admitting failure with that by re-launching Meego OS and Symbian OS.
Bad decisions, which seems to come from the company “integrity” made Nokia fail to adopt Android as it’s OS and bet the whole future of the company on Windows Phone 7.
Announcing the death of Symbian and Meego OS in 2011 pronounced doom for the company and even if Android is adopted now, I guess it’s too late. Apple redefined what a smartphone should be like with the popular iPhone, Samsung understood that and followed suit, Nokia thought its users will ever be loyal no matter what and failed to catch up.The smartphone market is already crowded – HTC, Samsung,Motorola and the rest of them have already bombarded the market with Android OS. Nokia might not succeed jumping in…What Nokia needs is a capable and consistent OS and a very good marketing strategy. Nokia is still relevant and this is undisputed but lots of changes need to be made.
What do you think? Should Nokia concentrate and improve Symbian OS, focus on WP7 or switch to Android?
Wonderful post…. dey need to improve on Symbian OS & migrate to Android & should be less concerned bout WP for now!
Twitter: xlimderek
says:
I wish Nokia Could Go Android…
+1 One For a well Written Post
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Twitter: kibria_hossain
says:
in my view , i prefer android than symbian because of its advantage
I haven’t used android yet. However i am using nokia from childhood. It is famous for its long lasting performance. Though it fails or restarts for bugs, i found no serious bug from my Nokia’s. And updating help to fix simple bugs. I think user interface matters much than device performance. Nokia should make changes on symbian’s user interface.
I think android is always better than any nokia phone, I sold my Nokia N900 before a month and bought Galaxy S2..
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I heard, Nokia already announced its first Android, Nokia Feo 800. There are results in google.
On the other hand, many also saying that its just a rumor, just a top April Fool of the year.
NOKIA MUST LAUNCH ANDROID OR OTHER OS WHICH WOULD COMPETE WITH ANDROID
Excellent…glad to hear others asking these questions.
I disagree with one minor statement…that Android is in demand by the public. I don’t believe that to be true. Android sales are high, not because people really want the platform, but because they have few choices OTHER than Android. Seriously, go into any store for the major carriers and add up the number of offerings from Apple, Symbian, Blackberry, Android, etc. The market is flooded with Android devices…although people in the business will also tell you it has the highest return rate, most resold…and unconfirmed number estimate that 30% of Android phone users will switch to another platform within a year.
To my mind , based on experiences with two tablets and four phone on Android over the past 3 years..Android is a FAIL…and continues to be so for the AVERAGE user, not the techies that read and post on forums and blogs. Too difficult to use, inconsistent experience…and now with the change (elimination) of the “Menu” button, the user experience is going to get MUCH worse. We’ve already seen a jumbled mess of alternatives….menu buttons hard to find, several different menu functions and the “official” placement is in an awkward location for people with larger phones and tablets. The upper corner menu button causes a tablet user to reposition or shift holding the device to use it.
Google consistently handicaps Android and apps and doesn’t seem to give much thought into what users need or how they use the devices. Case in point…Android has a file system specifically designed so that the user can access and manage their files, pictures, music and data themselves (per senior execs and legal staff regarding potential legal actions), yet there is NO stock or native file manager application for you to do just that…manage your data. Yes, I know you can get several free ones from the market…my point is that I shouldn’t HAVE to. If a person HAS to replace 30 to 60% of the “stock” applications with alternatives from the Play Store to achieve useability…that’s not “customizable”, that’s just wrong. If iPhone, Blackberry or W7 phone users had this experience, it would be top news and class-action lawsuits.
Personally, I was able to use a Windows phone for a few weeks and am hooked. So many people seem to dismiss the platform easily, but it is simple, clean and minimal, straightforward…and very well designed…and getting better. I’m just waiting for the Windows 8 to roll out…and absolutely plan on dumping my android (all of them) for a Nokia W8 phone, W8 Pro tablet, and will finally have integration between phone, tablet, AND PC…
To answer you (finally), with the fact that Android’s popularity is not based on performance or cultural appeal, (just shear numbers), future complications and so-so user experiences on Android….iPhone’s consistency, and the potential greatness of the upcoming Windows phones…I think Nokia has the right idea to jump in with MS…dump the droid. I am!
Seriously, Spike, your comment made me see things differently. Thanks for taking the time to add your point of view! You’re right, going Android will be a mistake, I’m sure.
Twitter: TwitterGokulkettavan
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I never liked android for it’s user interface and features and so on… always loved nokia for it’s UI and simplicity.. even farmers and villagers use nokia and only students and well educated people use Android.. I was confused for the past weak and started to like droid.. I even planned to create a android for my nokia but now I started to hate android as usual after seeing this post completely.. I’m happy that there are people still who say the truth about android.. Thank u Spike..
A lot now depends on Nokia Lumia 902 which is seen as a major competitor to iPhone 5 ans Samsung Galaxy S3. Lets hope it helps Nokia bounce back fully.
Twitter: zibusisomasuku
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I think Nokia should keep up with Symbian because changing to android will be just very bad step that only promotes uniformity among the rest.. If u realize one thing that makes iPhones so prestigious besides Samsung high quality phones, its because Apple is different. It does things diferently than all these HTCs, Droids and Samsungs… I believe if they mantain their part of the OS they will get their market back. Ps: But here in Southern Africa Nokia is still welcome, a large propoertion still uses them…
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