Nokia Implodes... Taking Microsoft's Mobile Dreams Down With It (Watch video)

Business Insider ^ | 06/15/2012 | Henry Bldoget

[SeekAndFind]

The once-great Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia (NOK) is now undergoing one of the most spectacular implosions in the history of business.

Several years ago, Nokia was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world when it came to making phones. Now, the company is frantically cutting costs and downsizing in a desperate bid to survive.

What happened?

The iPhone happened.

In the five years since Apple (AAPL) released its first iPhone, Nokia has lost a staggering 90% of its market value.

Worse, the company has gone from coining money to burning it. And the situation has gotten so bad that Nokia announced yesterday that it plans to fire another 10,000 employees.

Nokia's problem is that the cell-phone market has become a "platform" market, in which third-party developers build apps that run on top of cell phones. Platform markets tend to standardize around one or two winners. And the smartphone market is already standardizing around Apple's iPhone and Google's Android.

Nokia recognized this market shift last year. Its new CEO wrote a bold memo likening the company's predicament to being stuck on a "burning oil platform" in the middle of the ocean. He then radically changed Nokia's strategy and bet the company's future on Microsoft's forthcoming entry into the mobile platform market--a new version of Windows.

Unfortunately, Nokia's Microsoft phones have not been selling well. And, in the meantime, Apple and Google (GOOG) have only gotten stronger. So Nokia's situation has become even more dire.

Because Microsoft (MSFT) and Nokia are now in bed together, moreover, Nokia's problems have become Microsoft's problems. Microsoft is desperate to regain some of the ground it has lost to Apple and Google in smartphones. But its one major global partner, Nokia, is now drowning. So that puts Microsoft back at square one again.

[Future Snake Eater]

That was my first phone, too. Terrific phone!

[Smokin' Joe]

Funny thing, I have not seen much discussion about the frequency when losing your entire life's data when the (criminally attractive) device breaks, is lost or stolen.

I figure the next step with all that is to lure the users 'into the cloud', where their data will be "safe" (and able to be searched, pilfered, or 'lost').

[PreciousLiberty]

"Funny thing, I have not seen much discussion about the frequency when losing your entire life's data when the (criminally attractive) device breaks, is lost or stolen."

That isn't actually a problem, since you sync (back up) your phone to your computer. If something happens to the phone, you just restore your data to a new phone. If your computer is a Mac, most likely you're backing all your data up, including the sync data, to an external/network drive.

At least for the iPhone, if you lose it or it's stolen, you can locate it via GPS, and/or remotely wipe and brick it. The default protection is a four digit PIN, but you can only try to guess it a few times before the phone locks you out for increasingly long timeouts.

[Swordmaker]

 Nokia imploding! Why? According to this article, the iPhone! —PING!

Apple v. Nokia Ping!

Please, No Flame Wars!
Discuss technical issues, software, and hardware.
Don't attack people!
Don't respond to the Anti-Apple Thread Trolls!
PLEASE IGNORE THEM!!!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Vendome]

I hate Google but it’s over. Android is the T-1000.... And there will be no “Come with me, if you want to live”.

Someone will come up with an alternative that will provide more anonymity but, that day is years away.

[Vendome]

Zactly

[Vendome]

I miss my flip phone (Star Trek Communicator) from Nextel. Worked everywhere and the battery lasted forever.

[Spktyr]

The Apple devices back up everything to Apple servers so you can get it back. And if someone steals it you can not only locate it and send the police, you can also nuke it to keep the data from getting out.

[Vinnie]

I’ve graduated from a flip phone to one w/ a keyboard in order to text. kinda fun.
Mulling over getting an inexpensive smartphone, primarily for the larger screen. Better to see pics of my grandkids and, gulp.., great grandkids.
I NEVER put any personal info on the phone or my laptop either.
While I do most of my banking, bill paying, online ordering via computer I don’t have any of the info on the laptop, even though it rarely leaves the house. All that info in of the desktop.

[SunkenCiv]

Perhaps there’s Nokia to success in acquisitions. Thanks SM.

[Uri’el-2012]

This is called "creative destruction."

Joseph Schumpeter

[SmokingJoe]

Because Microsoft (MSFT) and Nokia are now in bed together, moreover, Nokia’s problems have become Microsoft's problems. Microsoft is desperate to regain some of the ground it has lost to Apple and Google in smartphones. But its one major global partner, Nokia, is now drowning. So that puts Microsoft back at square one again.

Lazy journalism. That bit is wrong on so many levels.

# 1. Nokia was already drowning before their partnership with Microsoft. Symbian smartphone sales were already sharply down and falling even faster than before.

# 2. Nokia is already the biggest Windows Phone seller on the planet, having swiftly overtaken Samsung and HTC which started selling Windows Phones long before Nokia did. And Nokia’s Windows Phone sales have been going UP.

# 3. Before Windows Phone, Nokia smartphone sales in the US(on Symbian) were close to zero.

# 4. For the Launch month of April, and for May, the Nokia Lumia 900 was the top selling single smartpone model for AT&T-authorized resellers:
http://www.mobilebloom.com/nokia-lumia-900-4g-still-on-top-of-att-authorized-resellers-bestsellers-list/2215150/

# 5. On Amazon, only the upcoming launch of the super hyped, record selling in Europe(where its already been luanched) Sanmung Galaxy III, has been able to dislodge the Nokia Lumia 900 from the top seling position, where it's stood since the April Lumia 900 launch:
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Cell-Phones-Accessories-AT/zgbs/wireless/2422313011/ref=pd_ts_zgc_cps_2422313011_more?pf_rd_p=1279002702&pf_rd_s=right-3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=2422313011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0BYJNDXXFDR85XZZW9F1

# 6. Samsung, HTC and the top Chinese smartphone maker ZTE are all doubling down on Windows Phone sets with the upcoming Windows Phone 8 release. Even the super hyped Samsung Galaxy III is rumoured to be releasing a Windows Phone 8 model come October:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/08/zte-tania-waves-windows-phone-flag-for-china-makes-official-mai/
http://www.everythingwm.com/zte-tania-coming-to-the-united-states-by-the-end-of-2012/2012/06/16/
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/mobile-phone/3354952/samsung-galaxy-s3-run-windows-8-in-october/

So its not as if Nokia is the only firm selling Windows Phones, in the very unlikely event of Nokia gong down in flames.

# 7. Nokia got UPGRADED by analysts following the cost cutting announcement, and the stock actually went UP, the day after the announcement, following the analyst upgrades:

Analysts upgrade Nokia after plans for layoffs, plant closings; look to Windows 8 phones
http://www.newser.com/article/d9vdmeko0/analysts-upgrade-nokia-after-plans-for-layoffs-plant-closings-look-to-windows-8-phones.html

[roadcat]

At least for the iPhone, if you lose it or it's stolen, you can locate it via GPS, and/or remotely wipe and brick it. The default protection is a four digit PIN, but you can only try to guess it a few times before the phone locks you out for increasingly long timeouts.

I use a five digit PIN, makes it really hard to guess. When my device was lost last year, I remotely wiped it. Luckily for me, the person who took it turned it in after a week as it was useless empty as a brick. Restored it via my Macbook in a couple minutes.

[Ironfocus]

I used to work at Nokia, and it is sad to see the company in this position. The problems at Nokia did not start with the iPhone, it started way before then. We were working on a smart-phone concept, complete with touch-screen and app platform in 2000 already, but it never came to market because:
1. The touch screens were not considered robust enough for everyday use, and
2. The executives at Nokia at that time did not believe in a “closed” business model, like Apple launched. They wanted everything to be open source, like Linux, even the apps.
3. They believed that Nokia would always hold the majority market share, and therefore, whatever Nokia would sell, the market would buy.

Too much arrogance, and dismissive of the strategic models we built in my team that showed 2 years before the i-phone launch that it was coming (Apple was recruiting GSM RF design engineers and pinging chipset manufacturers), and what the long term impact would be. I distinctly recall being in a meeting withn the then CEO where we suggested a Microsoft or Openwave partnership, and the reply was: “The next person to suggest that will be fired on the spot”. How times have changed...

I hope Nokia survives, but it will never be the same.

[SeekAndFind]

What I get from all these links you have provided is this — Even if Nokia were to go bankrupt, it does not mean the end of Windows Phone?

[Swordmaker]

# 1. Nokia was already drowning before their partnership with Microsoft. Symbian smartphone sales were already sharply down and falling even faster than before.

No one is arguing THAT, Joe.

# 2. Nokia is already the biggest Windows Phone seller on the planet, having swiftly overtaken Samsung and HTC which started selling Windows Phones long before Nokia did. And Nokia’s Windows Phone sales have been going UP.

And despite your claims, Nokia is laying off 10,000 more of its workforce NOW and its status as an investment has just been lowered to JUNK status! That does not say much for the white knight saving ability of the sales of these Windows phones you are toutin, does it?

# 3. Before Windows Phone, Nokia smartphone sales in the US(on Symbian) were close to zero.

And Sales without profit is sending good money after bad. What sales they were getting was coming from giving large sales bonuses to the sales force for pushing Nokia Windows phones over other competing models.

# 4. For the Launch month of April, and for May, the Nokia Lumia 900 was the top selling single smartpone model for AT&T-authorized resellers: http://www.mobilebloom.com/nokia-lumia-900-4g-still-on-top-of-att-authorized-resellers-bestsellers-list/2215150/

"Resellers?" think about that qualifier, Joe. No AT&T-authorized reseller has ever been permitted to sell Apple iPhones. None. Only Apple is qualified to contract with a third party to authorize reselling. . . and those that it has have seen nearly the same overwhelming percentages of iPhone sales that AT&T and Verizon have reported, blowing away Windows AND Android phones in the US for those carriers.

# 5. On Amazon, only the upcoming launch of the super hyped, record selling in Europe(where its already been luanched) Sanmung Galaxy III, has been able to dislodge the Nokia Lumia 900 from the top seling position, where it's stood since the April Lumia 900 launch: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Cell-Phones-Accessories-AT/zgbs/wireless/2422313011/ref=pd_ts_zgc_cps_2422313011_more?pf_rd_p=1279002702&pf_rd_s=right-3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=2422313011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0BYJNDXXFDR85XZZW9F1

LOL... Again, your vaunted Windows phone is only number 5 and 9 after other makers' Android phones on a list that includes NO Apple phones because, as before, Amazon is NOT an authorized iPhone reseller so they won't be counted!

# 6. Samsung, HTC and the top Chinese smartphone maker ZTE are all doubling down on Windows Phone sets with the upcoming Windows Phone 8 release. Even the super hyped Samsung Galaxy III is rumoured to be releasing a Windows Phone 8 model come October:

Rumors get you nothing. Nada. Zip.

# 7. Nokia got UPGRADED by analysts following the cost cutting announcement, and the stock actually went UP, the day after the announcement, following the analyst upgrades:

Again, LOL! Two out of over fifty analyst gave luke warm reviews... One to a mere perform from neutral, the other from sell to neutral, and you are cheering???? Those two were still pessimistic but willing to wait and see... And it was about the SURVIVAL of Nokia, not that it would suddenly grow stupendously because of hitching its wagon to Windows rising star.

[antiRepublicrat]

I'll add to Swordmaker's great comments:

Nokia is already the biggest Windows Phone seller on the planet, having swiftly overtaken Samsung and HTC which started selling Windows Phones long before Nokia did.

Mainly because both of those manufacturers switched to the much more desired Android for most of their products. Many are looking back at Windows now that Microsoft demands several dollars per phone in royalties for non-Windows sales.

For the Launch month of April, and for May, the Nokia Lumia 900 was the top selling single smartpone model for AT&T-authorized resellers:

Aside from the fact that your criteria eliminates competition from the iPhone, that's probably because the 900 sucked so bad they started giving it away for free. Fact is, the iPhone 4S was recently the best seller for AT&T, Sprint and Verizon.

Nokia got UPGRADED by analysts following the cost cutting announcement, and the stock actually went UP, the day after the announcement, following the analyst upgrades

That does tend to happen regardless of the long-term viability of the company. Let's see if Microsoft kills Nokia like they tried to kill Orange.

[itsahoot]

Funny thing, I have not seen much discussion about the frequency when losing your entire life's data when the (criminally attractive) device breaks, is lost or stolen.

Because with an iPhone that can only happen if you are really stupid.

My sister lost her phone to a thief in the Grocery store. I traced it to a home on the nearby lake and directed the police right to a home they were familiar with, one iPhone is recovered, all her data was backed up to her computer, iPad and the cloud.

She lives in Oklahoma, I am in Oregon.

[ShadowAce]

[ShadowAce]