What Elop and Nokia must do to regain market gain

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Girl Is Lost

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My opinion :

Right now they need to
A) turn meego into the slickest looking os possible animations and easy to develop for
B) have three flavors of meego , one for basic phones , one for mid level , and one for there advanced devices
C) unite their entire future production line of phones under meego and completely drop symbian
D) pay until they get developer support for nokia store
E) make penetrating the us market a single most important priority

After reading the new York times article interview with the new CEO , elop, this is my opinion of what he plans to do.

What are your opinions ?
 
Focusing exclusively on the increasingly competitive American market to the exclusion of the much larger Chinese and Indian markets, and just emerging markets in general, would be the end of Nokia. America is currently experiencing a smartphone boom that cannot last indefinitely. At some point in the next few years, this market will become saturated and manufacturers will be forced to compete with one another on price, Android manufacturers in particular, and from there it's a race to the bottom. Outsized profits are targeted and eventually squashed by competition - basic economics.

The world's emerging markets hold more long-term prospects and are much more friendly to Nokia. If Nokia were to focus all of its efforts on penetrating the US market they would be spending money trying to break into a well-defended fortress will very little wealth to offer in terms of long-term profit and opening the door for competitors to march in on Nokia's traditional stomping grounds in emerging markets.

I think Elop should use his experience as a software engineer to overhaul Nokia's software development lifecycle and create a company that can crank out high quality software with innovative features and do it on time with a regular schedule of releases. Nokia's problem isn't strategy. It's execution. They are playing catch up in many senses, failing to capitalize on strengths and delivering buggy software that's always late.
 
Very true, although that doesn't preclude actually making an effort to be competitive in North America. They've literally ceded the entire NA market. Sure, it's not as big as emerging markets, but it does have one of the most affluent populations, despite the tough recession, and has the largest concentration of media in the world, which equals mind-share and press.

By ignoring the U.S. market, Nokia, a *communications company*, has said they don't need press/media coverage.
 
Horrible idea in specific, but good in general. WP7 and MeeGo currently show that it's all about simple and clean looks, not like what iOS has.



Horrible, MeeGo should be advanced only. There's already smartphone, tablet and netbook splitting it up.


Symbian is good for low end phones, keep it that way.



They can't pay to get it, they need to not **** the devs over like they did with s60v3.



It makes no sense to attack a market you have no easy way of getting into while abandoning your current ones. They're better of focusing on strengthening their presence elsewhere around the world and looking at the US later.

Right now, I think they just need to not **** things up. Have a few MeeGo phones at most along with internet tablets and possibly launch a MeeGo based follow up to the Booklet 3G. Consolidate their dumphone market as well, which seems to be the direction their going. MeeGo on tablets looks really slick, MeeGo for Netbooks I'm not so sure about, Windows 7 works fine for me. MeeGo for smartphones will be solid as long as it does what the tablet version does. If they provide a solid, powerful system that's user centric they'll get a strong following, rather than screwing up S60v2 by making S60v3 business centric.
 
.the biggest problem w/ Symbian has been the half-baked initial releases....
the development process has to release solid OS at the launch of products and then have small updates and advances through out the life of the product..
 
Here's how I see it from several points of view.

Corporate
- Get rid of Nokia's 'silly Americans' mentality. Instead of using it as an excuse, use it to your advantage. Ya want Wiz bang. Here it is and here is a flashy TV commercial silly Americans.
- new product development has to have a fast track and be able to move with the market rather than react to it. Because once the market moves its gone.
- America is only one of several points of interest.

Global phone market
- Megoo for mid-high to high end feature phone Symbian for mid - low.
- All new products MUST SHIP in a reasonable amount of time, 4-6 weeks once announced max.
- Be cutting edge without being bleeding edge, work with and force the suppliers to develop new and cutting edge devices and get it in the customers hands quickly. Way easier said than done but what has been done in the past is horrible!

US market
-They have to have a several un-crippled carrier agreements (a Verizon / Sprint / Tmobile N8 would sell boat loads) BUT not on the carriers floor space. There are to many toes to step on. Agreements with large B&M like Best Buy and big online stores (amazon, Newegg, etc.) for both sales AND SUPPORT/REPAIR!!
- Maintain the 70+% penetration in India, 30% in china, and 35% in Europe and compete for the US market. Japan and South Korea are lost. Maintain those single digit numbers. Any gain is better than a loss in the US market.
- App development is a MUST. Take a lost if you have to. But it must be at the hands of app development and to lure app developers to the platform. If you build it (apps) they will come (users). Less Fart and 'how to make a toss salad' apps and more functional apps that leverage the hardware and that doesn't hinder the user experience like some fruity phones manf. I know.
- What is a Nokia? There should be a 30 min infomercial on Nokia and their products. The brand recognition is very poor for Nokia in the US. That must change.
- Apple is a culture, Nokia can be a movement. Its not to late. Nokia brand loyalty is something that earned, EARN IT NOKIA! Be everything Apple is not. Be open, flexible, supportive and timely. Nokia has a chance to make big leaps in the US market with Meego. Everything can be new. Treat the US market as if its a new country. New phone, new software, new apps, familiar name or "the new Touch screen WizBang 3000 by Elvis Electronics .... Made by Nokia just quit trying to use European models in the US it been years and it just doesn't work.
 
Biggest mobile growth in the next few years, including both total numbers and smartphones are in the BRICI areas (Brazil, Russia/Soviet Republics, India, China, Indonesia) and you can include much of Asia (Middle East, Central, Southeast).

Just remember, China has a carrier that has more subscribers than the entire human population of North America.

With BRICI areas, Nokia's real competition is Android (China) and Blackberry (Indonesia).
 
Nokia also needs to succeed in Japan, Korea, EU and US markets, as desirability of a product in emerging markets depends on success in developed markets. BlackBerry would be a hit anywhere, particularly those markets because of awesomely low data usage that nobody else can compete with. S60 is also a hit because it actually functions without a data plan at all. I think really MeeGo should also work both with and without a data plan, which would be one of the strongest selling points for it.
 
I can agree with your adept evaluation to an extent. here are my arguements mostly backed up by examples in just about all long standing products (Cars, Microwaves, Stoves, Fridges, Washers & Dryers, Computers - not so much desktops so much anymore but laptops with DVD media of any kind).



The UK has reach saturation over some 12mths ago ... and smartphone sales are STILL increasing ... churn is a bit higher, but upgrades from existing+continuing customers are growing higher than the churn, thus revenues & profits are not affected. I'm talking UK, Isle of Man, China, and Japan. Yes the race to the bottom is already happening and currently the best way providers - still the key holders - can do this is by contracts, is holding up. Over time economies of scale will remain the reason hardware companies stay in business.

Now the part that has a huge hole in your analysis - which is VERY astoute and valid - is my counter point which also is valid:
Cars ... over the past 100yrs have increased in price exponentially REGARDLESS of how many ppl purchase/own/insure or drive them now vs then.
Washers/Dryers/Vacuum Cleaners ... again the same deal in the same time frame.
Fridges/Stoves/Microwaves (the latter I'm reaching for here but premium models do fit with my analysis & point).
Computers (mostly laptops with external storage media drives built-in: CD/DVD/BluRay/etc) in the past 3 decades.

Now of ALL the products, Computers are an exception which I'll get too, over the past 100yrs or VERY VERY close have ALL increased in prices!! Cars still get you from point A to B, consume some type of fuel, and still seat at least 2 ppl. Washers/Dryers/Vacuums still wash clothes, still dry them, and still suck up dirt like a dirty female phys-ed teacher in porky's ... well you get the idea. Fridges & Stoves still store food in cold temperatures, and cook our food.

So what has changed to allow these products to continue to sell at HIGHER $$Prices over such a short time EVEN though ECONOMIES of SCALE should determine cheaper costs and cheaper pricing to consumers while offering equal value?! Product Cycle changes, not entirely. Think about this here. Features, and their evolution of what they do:
Cars ... do what they do FASTER, SAFER, and with ever changing style. Quality Materials are used, and with colour & marketing do what they can.
Washers/Dryers/Vacuum cleaners ... well just about the same here: Dyson revolutionized Vacuum cleaners & now hand dryers. Washers & Dryers do so with LESS water & LESS electrical power spent and with better volume in design and colour now (who the HELL needs RED washer/dryers (?!) well my wife does, but we have nothing RED in our apartment so that puts a stop to that: also the $1500 price tag for both as well).
Fridges & Stoves; same deal here ... though Fridges/Freezers now make ice cubes (70's), and serve as air conditioners when you open them ;) and stoves have better designs, are made for wheelchair accessible, and safer gas stoves, better flat panel designs, etc etc etc.

The differences are Microwaves. The offer better features similar to the trends I've mentioned above, while offering pretty much the same price tags, ONLY the premium models which now envelopes the larger cu ft sizes increase in pricing. Computers ... original for the consumer market cost in excess of $10K dollars for a desktop with garbage power and single purpose use; I know because I was a kid then - Tandy, Radio Shack Tandy brands, Apple IIc's etc. Then as they evolved continue to offer more features, run more complex software and have newer more advanced chips! The desktops have reduced in price significantly but have now hovered for retail above $500 retail for decent modern average user specs, and anything capable of holding serious graphics cards and multiple multi-core CPU's for Gaming, Video Encode/Decode for High Def (beyond 1080P), or full Audio Production suits (not GarageBand mavens) are above the $1500 mark. Laptops though have increased significantly in price with burnable media as previously mentioned.

My Point .... pricing will fluctuate as the products evolve and offer more features: higher resolution displays, camera lens', better camera/corder software, more network capabilities - with faster WWAN (LTE) coming, and etc etc etc. How will retail pricing grow to the end users be acceptable? Marketing.

Apple is doing a phenomenal job at this, and although on paper you'd think they where CRAZY - looking at spec's, then looking at prices - you'd be right! And sorry but they're changing the marketplace by being crazy.

Nokia's SERIOUS problem is two fold: Lack of internal communication throughout ALL departments on real-time, and their lies which is seen through the industry and consumers. Just 4 weeks ago Olli-Pekka was voiced & vindicated that he'd hold top dog status and boom the board of directors sought other wise in quick haste. More internal communication does just benefits the brass, but the end users as well when engineers are not held back on submitting great hardware and not be under-minded by retail/marketing division's limitations, and or designers looking for small size. Once that is out of the way everything else falls into place: OS Strategy, software market strategy, marketing of software/devices/services, etc etc.
 
Can't win in Japanese markets. Average keitai puts most, heck, all, Nokia phones to shame.

Korea is Samsung's, LG's and Pantech's backyard. They got whole armies of high resolution touch screen featurephones that has to be seen to be believed not to mention Android and Bada smartphones now. Their technical resources are superior over Nokia. A company like Samsung makes both its own screens like the Super AMOLED and processors like the Hummingbird, which laughs all over even a Qualcomm Snapdragon on benchmarks. Even a company like Apple needs to source its A4 chips from Samsung and Retina displays from LG.
 
Yup. Starting with the Huawei Ideos.

Huawei and ZTE is in the stage now where Samsung, LG and HTC was years ago. The only difference is that Huawei and ZTE has been eating up the network business at the same time. Huawei is responsible for a big loss in business for Nokia-Siemens and Huawei is now about #2 behind Ericsson.

Nokia's other nightmare at least in the Chinese market is that the biggest telco in the world, China Mobile, uses a forked Android called OMS as the OPhone, as its annointed platform for smartphones.
 
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