Perhaps the time you read this post already know if Nokia has changed its strategy in smartphones. The expectations are high after the incendiary paper (as of arson never better, to talk about being on an oil rig on fire and having to decide whether to jump into the water) of a director of Nokia, although there are grounds for believing that the document is totally false.
current situation
Nokia Nokia is the world leader with a lot of difference in mobile phone sales, selling over a million phones a day, more than the next three brands combined. But its managers have no reason to be happy, because high-end smartphones is clearly a tendency to lose market share to Android and iPhone mostly. And a manufacturer that spends far more on R & D than its rival does not make sense to display problems precisely in the high range.
Nokia's problem is that their traditional system for Smartphones, Symbian, is not up to Android or iOS on new phones touch interface. At the same time continues to enhance Symbian, Nokia is developing Meegan, a system that is very interesting because it really leverages the mobile phones are increasingly powerful, but it is taking to get ready. Meegan Maemo is the development of the system used in the most revolutionary smartphone Nokia in recent years, the N900, but not even marketed as a smartphone and has lacked maturity. The problem is that while MeeGo retains much of the philosophy of Maemo, changes many things starting with the graphical toolkit.
In this situation, the temptation is to use a third party platform instead of Symbian or Meego, which attractive and we assume an increase in high-end sales. Android is an unlikely choice because it is a market that is very difficult to stand out as shown in the terminal and brands as they happen and endure only a few months. Phone Windows 7 would be an option that is more a virgin, but if you really have success Android will play the situation.
The problem with using a third party product, is that other brands can too, so that the margin of difference is narrow: customizations and a little hardware. In any hardware is complicated and little differentiation durarera: main hardware components like the processor also third developed so competitors can also buy them. Another problem is that the hardware is evolving very fast so the last one usually get a phone that offers more. In contrast, for example Apple can afford to throw phones at launch being pointers are not the cutting edge after a few months because they release phones only for that platform.
have the exclusivity of a platform is not necessary if you can at least lead it, because it gives you an advantage that when a third party platform such as Microsoft or Google.
must say that some of the problems are not selling Nokia phones, but how it pays its customer base in obtaining other benefits (ecosystem around phones.) The inevitable comparison is with Apple and both applications store as songs, ebooks etc. Apple has less base customers Nokia and yet more on his store sells. Here it must be said, however, that Nokia is improving with OVI and store their own figures are higher in stores such as Android.
may think that the important thing is to improve results with OVI and for this we must get more customers who buy high-end devices, since a priori are most conducive to buying. Again, therefore, the temptation arises to going outside to attract buyers of these high-end devices. One problem is that the "third" that develops the platform might also be interested in business and compete with Nokia. This happens more with Google than Microsoft, because Microsoft already won with the software, without having to obtain the benefit of the service, but Microsoft is interested in diversifying. It is also uncertain estimates of business of these stores, whether or not your weight will increase or otherwise will be less when operators or major Internet marketers achieve react or if the platforms evolve to more open models in the buyer can choose where to buy (for me a paradigmatic model is that even on a platform closed as the iPad, many people do not buy into the Apple store the ebooks).
assets
Nokia Nokia R & D spending more than any company and that many governments, including Spain. This is an important asset both as a technology that is in the ability and knowledge of staff. This is an asset if you ask a strategy as Apple or RIM (Black Berry) to lead a platform, but a serious handicap if your strategy is to take what others have done, because then your organizational structure and extensive staff of qualified people but face is a dead weight against companies with fewer employees and therefore lower paid and less spending on personnel.
Nokia is active based on Symbian phones and smartphones stranglehold on the cheap, with a number of applications for Symbian immense. For many people is the only option when you want a phone without being tied to a data rate. Also in this Nokia has done well and its implementation of MoviMaps which is free for your phone you can have the equivalent of a GPS without connecting to the Internet. Maybe in future there Android phones cheaper and without fee data (this depends on the opera, after all, but also from technological developments, for Symbian is an advantage of the low consumption of resources) but until is and the base continues to grow. Nokia has
brand and many people buy Nokia although they are not smartphones: Nokia phones are usually very good, so that the image is good and is easy for these customers are inclined to stick with Nokia if you they do not offer well below the competition.
Nokia has an attractive platform, Meegan, which also involved Google, which has the advantage over Android greater integration with native system libraries to use and even taken from Linux applications (in the case of IOS, the system iPhone also uses a native system, in this case the MacOSX, although it has become more specific to iPhone). Of course take an existing application for Linux and run on a smartphone without changes will not offer a good user experience in many cases, but the difference between adapting Pidgin (even creating a new user interface) and develop from scratch all protocols and insights, many years working for a team of several people.
The mere fact that something with a different orientation to Android being based on Linux is also interesting to attract new developers, because if a solution with the same philosophy as Android the problem would be to convince developers to Google's system switch to another similar solution but to settle.
A possible strategy for Nokia
If I were rich, this manager of Nokia, think of something like the following:
- Symbian has no future, but has a tondo this interesting segmenting customers. Symbian does not make sense in high-end devices, so investment in Symbian must be more conservative and aim to make it very stable, not new features. This writer has a Nokia 5800 with Symbian and although I would have liked more Android, this phone I'm finding very useful and what new features demanded more stability. Many people do you expect from Nokia is that the system is robust and the battery lasts. If he is moving to meet that, it has Wifi, a good browser, media player, a camera that is not too bad, communication programs, ovimaps and readers for various formats, has the right product now for many people.
- Qt is the technology bridge between Symbian and Meego. Nokia should promote it and put their people to make applications like crazy, because the gap with its rivals is very large and must demonstrate their contribution. Nokia needs a "killer application" for mobile phones made in Qt. Symbian applications are good, but all made with native Symbian API and that it is hell. There can be no new applications to Symbian Nokia's hand that do not use Qt. Also in the future fewer people will spend a platform and most applications, so that should be made as soon as the batteries. The commitment Qt was certainly risky (to be Maemo based on the toolkit rival GTK + and having many developers of GTK +, it might have been less risky and yet attracted more people have tried to put as a technology bridge GTK + combined with Python: the least toolkit is what is best). But once it has opted for Qt is putting all your eggs in one basket.
- have to put the batteries in and have a terminal MeeGo soon. Show that the stakes are clear if you take in between one end terminal high to Symi, ensuring that you can install it Meego. Do not be afraid to be more open and adopted by others. As I said, it is essential to have the exclusive on a platform to take advantage, but lead it.
- Avoid at all costs bungling and pamper developers. During the time that I was using Maemo work, I loved the platform, but freaked out when one day someone at Nokia decided to update the repository using the SDK to use the packages that would run the next version instead of the current. For several weeks, failed to install programs on the terminals, as well the new version came out late.
This is what I would do, but it is possible that Nokia announced that they will sell some handsets with Windows Phone 7. Obviously if they do will make it clear that this does not affect its plans to continue with Symbian (would be stupid to give up their customer base and a market that by the time the others do not access) and Meegan (since they have clear, or at least should have it, that Symbian can not be the future and would only Windows Phone manufacturer).
working to do this would give the impression that things go horribly wrong. 'd Better bet on other platforms while the others do theirs as Samsung, but compared to Nokia's mobile phone division of Samsung is having a problem. Also will probably delay the plans of Meegan, he will have to devote some energy also Windows Phone 7.
It is possible that if they login to Windows Phone 7 also sell the idea that authentic platform from Nokia will be neither Symbian nor MeeGo but its SDK on Qt, which could also run on Windows Phone 7 and at Therefore mobile applications run without change on all three platforms.
latter would sound good on paper (but without the happy lackluster "killer application"), but it's hard to sell to the not too many developers who are loyal to Nokia and interested in Meego. These developers come in many Maemo, which was based on GTK + and as they represented a major shift change in strategy for Qt (and thank God that the rancorous debate among Linux users supporters GTK + and Qt were already a thing of the past.) But many have followed, because they can continue to use GTK +, Qt and used to leave the base remains in any case Linux. But if the bet is to use only the APIs offered by Qt for cross platform applications, so you can run also on Windows Phone 7, the change it would be too drastic.
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