MS & Nokia sittin' in a tree...

[DaGaffer]

It's official: Nokia bets on Microsoft for smartphones ? The Register

Well there's a big fat fail if I ever saw one. Don't get me wrong, I actually like WP7 (I have an LG Omnia 7 on my desk right now and its rather spiffy), but unless MS are going to change the extremely locked down UI and hardware rules for Nokia's benefit, where's the differentiation opportunity? Only in certain hardware whistles and bells like imaging, which isn't a sustainable point of difference (in addition WP7 is never going to be a tablet OS, so that's another market denied to Nokia unless they use Meego or something, which puts them back where they started).

Why the hell Nokia didn't suck it up and just use Android instead (which gives them far more customisation opportunities) is beyond me. Could it be the ex-Microsoft CEO of Nokia couldn't bring himself to do it?

The only possible way for Nokia do differentiate WP7 is if they can somehow develop a massive App store for it, but its catch-22 on that score; developers aren't interested in apps for low volume platforms, and you can't get volume on a smartphone platform without a decent volume of apps, or at least the promise of that (which is also why WebOS is going to fail, sadly). So, bye bye Nokia, its been...emotional.

 

[Ch3tan]

Nokia will be aiming squarly for the non smartphone, midrange end of the Market then. Would be sad to see them go, but agree it's like signing their own suicide note.

 

[MYstIC G]

This is worse news for Meego imho. Which is a right fuckstain as it's got a lot of promise.

Nokia Explains Strategy for MeeGo and Symbian After Microsoft Partnership

 

[dysfunction]

Oh well bye bye Nokia. It was good in the old days...

 

[Krazeh]

Well there's a big fat fail if I ever saw one. Don't get me wrong, I actually like WP7 (I have an LG Omnia 7 on my desk right now and its rather spiffy), but unless MS are going to change the extremely locked down UI and hardware rules for Nokia's benefit, where's the differentiation opportunity? Only in certain hardware whistles and bells like imaging, which isn't a sustainable point of difference

Apparently Nokia have been given free rein to customize anything they want in WP7 if they so choose. Altho it's not clear whether that relates solely to the software side or whether they'll be given latitude to alter the hardware specs as well.

Nokia will be able to customize 'everything' in Windows Phone 7, but likely won't -- Engadget

 

[ford prefect]

To be honest Nokia have only themselves to blame. Three years since Iphone launched and they have done nothing at all to compete. Personally I think MS have been pretty lax too recently, I mean look at the tablet market - all MS have come up with is a power point presentation as to how a theoretical tablet would be better with their OS on it: Microsoft’s anti-iPad strategy revealed

All a bit pathetic really.

 

[DaGaffer]

Apparently Nokia have been given free rein to customize anything they want in WP7 if they so choose. Altho it's not clear whether that relates solely to the software side or whether they'll be given latitude to alter the hardware specs as well.

Nokia will be able to customize 'everything' in Windows Phone 7, but likely won't -- Engadget

Well, that's kind of good news, if they take advantage of it (I bet HTC and Samsung are really pissed off though), still doesn't do much for their desperate need for apps though.

To be honest Nokia have only themselves to blame. Three years since Iphone launched and they have done nothing at all to compete. Personally I think MS have been pretty lax too recently, I mean look at the tablet market - all MS have come up with is a power point presentation as to how a theoretical tablet would be better with their OS on it: Microsoft’s anti-iPad strategy revealed

All a bit pathetic really.

Win7 is a decent desktop operating system, but its a waste of time for tablets. Maybe if MS had been serious about the Courier they could have done something useful in this space.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

To be honest Nokia have only themselves to blame.

Yeah, it was definitely their own fault that Apple ripped off their patented ideas and pushed them out before Nokia could.

 

[ford prefect]

Yeah, it was definitely their own fault that Apple ripped off their patented ideas and pushed them out before Nokia could.

Oh Please, not this apple phobia again! Nokia had all the time and resources in the world to develop this market. They got too comfortable and dropped the ball, it is that simple. The Nokia Tube and the other early tochscreens they did were attrocious after release and had the worst OS in the world. They were very early prototype products at best and had very little in common with the Iphone at all. There is also absolutely no reason that they couldn't have come up with a contender in the past three years either.

 

[Raven]

Yeah, it was definitely their own fault that Apple ripped off their patented ideas and pushed them out before Nokia could.

Back up to this wild accusation? Not a fan of Apple myself but...lol

Fact is Nokia got nice and comfortable with budget phones, which 5 years ago they dominated the market. The only problem they have is that the market moved on.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

BBC News - Nokia sues Apple for 'patent infringement'

Quick google, thousands of links.

 

[Raven]

Apple Sues Nokia in U.K. in Ongoing Patent Fight - Businessweek

wait...what?

 

[Ch3tan]

It's bullshit. IP law is fucked, it a pointless thing. Companies patenting a "theory" or "idea" they may not even be able to implement. Crazyness.

 

[DaGaffer]

Yeah, it was definitely their own fault that Apple ripped off their patented ideas and pushed them out before Nokia could.

You don't really believe that do you? Even if the "Apple stole our homework" bit was true, the original iPhone was a 2G/Edge piece of crap sold to gullible fanboys; Nokia had more than enough opportunity to do better in 2007, but they didn't because they were structurally incapable of doing so. The reality is they completely misjudged the market; they didn't see smartphones as a mass market consumer proposition, even after iPhone came out. I detest Apple, but iPhone as a proposition (even if the early reality wasn't up to much), changed the way people thought about phones, and Nokia still struggle with that idea four years later.

 

[soze]

This could be great news I have always though Nokia make the best hardware of any phone maker. And WP7 has good potential. At the moment i think it was rushed to market as it has some obvious flaws and limitations. But it is smoother than anything else and i think in a few months when the promised updates hit this OS could be a real challenger. People say no because its too late but people said the same about Android which after a few years is dominating. People mention apps but the Market on WP7 is getting bigger and bigger its will never catch the "App Store" but how many fart machines do you need? All the good and useful apps will port over and all new apps will have a WP7 version so it does not need to be as big.

 

[ford prefect]

I would also add that if Apple are successful with the iphone nano at £125, capable of running the majority of iphone apps, it will be the death march for Nokia. Another opportunity completely overlooked.

 

[soze]

I would also add that if Apple are successful with the iphone nano at £125, capable of running the majority of iphone apps, it will be the death march for Nokia. Another opportunity completely overlooked.

I am not sure that will matter. This is Nokia's Smartphones only. I do not think your average user of a dumbphone will care about an iPhone nano. Most people i know the price of the iphone is not the deciding factors its the fact they don't want anything other than texts, calls and photos so the ability to run a load of fluff apps will not appeal.

 

[ford prefect]

I am not sure that will matter. This is Nokia's Smartphones only. I do not think your average user of a dumbphone will care about an iPhone nano. Most people i know the price of the iphone is not the deciding factors its the fact they don't want anything other than texts, calls and photos so the ability to run a load of fluff apps will not appeal.

Perhaps, but it does put Apple firmly in the low end android market (presumably that is the reason for launch, to limit sales in the Android market), which will limit Nokia even more. In essence, to compete at the moment Nokia would need to come up with a series of phones, in this case a WP7 phone and a sustainable competitive app market to stand any chance at all of gaining a significant market share. It is a bit of a long shot to be honest. They don't really have the corporate market to fall back on either anymore.

I find it astonishing to be honest, that a company that had a huge share of the market for such a long time (I daresay most of us have owned a nokia at some point or other - I dread to think how many we have in the attic). The way they managed to misjudge the market isn't the problem, it is that they never really did anything about it. I honestly just don't understand it.

 

[Ch3tan]

Also Nokia have a lot of work to do to convince smart-phone users to buy their devices. their offerings for the last 4 years have been poor. Rushed releases, software issues, hardware issues. All the things that you don't expect from Nokia based on years of quality phone offerings before smartphones came along.

It's a real shame IMO that Nokia have tied themselves so firmly to wp7. They should have done a HTC and released a range of handsets covering wp7, android and maybe even meego.

 

[GReaper]

Whilst part of me wants MS/Nokia to be successful as competition is a good thing and I don't want the entire mobile market limited to just a few options, it just feels like Windows Phone 7 is destined to get 3rd place at best. I don't have much confidence for Nokia partnering with MS.

Smartphones are all about the apps, platforms without them just don't have as much appeal. Developers flock to the platforms which show the most potential for usage/growth and it took quite a while for Android to be taken seriously.

 

[MYstIC G]

Rofl $17 billion

After Black Friday, Nokia acts to halt share slide ? The Register