Nokia is not to be trifled with. Although its market share has dropped, it is still the world’s largest handset maker.
Nokia’s previous CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, or OPK as he is popularly known, lost his job about two weeks ago. I knew he would not be delivering the keynote speech at Nokia World, something he had done every year as CEO.
Instead, his place was taken by Mr Niklas Savander, who opened Nokia World and mentioned OPK in one sentence when he thanked him for his contribution of 30 years.
OPK’s replacement Mr Stephen Elop, who was head of Microsoft's Business Division, was nowhere to be seen. I was told he was not even in the background as he will only join Nokia as CEO on Sept 21,
Nokia World did not suffer much. In its business-as-usual fashion, it unveiled four new smartphones, the E7, N8, C6 and C7 to the 3,000 developers, journalists, operators and business partners who turned up for the two-day event on Sept 14 and 15.
The devices were nice looking and sported touchscreens and new display technologies, two key features that are must-have features for smartphones today.
What struck me was how hard Nokia tried with its message that "it’s back in the smartphone business". Mr Savander admitted that Nokia was going through a transition and was doing its best to get back its lustre.
He tried to convince the audience with this statement: "We’re not Apple, Google or Samsung. We’re a global company and we know that just one model won’t satisfy everyone. Such a strategy won’t do because it leads to compromises with features like camera, keyboard and others."
So he implied that the world needed a variety of smartphones like Nokia’s wide product line that is able to support anyone who needs a mobile phone.
Nokia is not to be trifled with. Although its market share has dropped, it is still the world’s largest handset maker.
Its 1.3 billion customer base is the envy of its competitors. It sells 260,000 smartphones every day – more than all its competitors combined. It also sells 1 million candy-bar phones daily that run the Java software. Globally, its customers download more 2 million downloads every day. In the coming year, Nokia said it will sell 50 million smartphones.
The numbers are really convincing that Nokia is strong and that its four new devices announced last week will let it back into the smartphone race.
Perhaps.
I am concerned that good products are not enough for Nokia to achieve its former glory as head of the phone market. Its competitors have sleek advertising campaigns that emphasise sexy and sleek designs.
I wish that the no-nonsense Nokia would do something to make it sparkle in the eyes of users and so grab some of the spotlight away from its competitors.
Analysts do not seem to believe that Nokia can succeed. Needham analysts said Nokia would retain only 20 per cent of the smartphone market share in a couple of years, down from the 39 per cent it now commands.
At the top of the heap is Android with 40 per cent market followed by Apple at 25 per cent and Blackberry with 10 per cent. Windows Phone 7 brings up the rear at 5 per cent.
Nokia has to hurry if it is serious about retaining its market share.
Grace Chng is editor of Digital Life.