I keep reading about this, people ask me about it and I’ve even asked myself the question a few times. The answer is NO, Nokia is nowhere near dead. They sell a bazillion phones a day and are still the leader in smart phones with Symbian. I personally prefer Symbian over every other platform I’ve ever used. Yes I know, I know it’s “not innovative”, “it’s not user friendly”, it’s not blah blah blah. Stop throwing up your rants at me. I just prefer it. Yes Ewan (@Ew4n) I do, even if you point and laugh at my choice of phones. I will say that Symbian isn’t perfect, for consuming data on the go Android is the best, for variety of apps iPhone is the best, but for what I want Symbian is the best. I have been known to spend 2 hours a night answering emails in bed and I don’t have patience to do that on a touch screen phone so I use my trusty Nokia E71, which I just upgraded to an E73 (US and T-Mobile only version of the E72).
Here’s what I think though Nokia, if you’re listening. It’s time to spend the big bucks on advertising in the US, IF and only IF you want to succeed here. Not if you just want to sell a handful of phones but if you really want to sell like you used to. I’m talking about Super Bowl commercials and pumping as many handsets into Hollywood movies, TV shows, commercials and music videos as you possibly can. I think it’s time to through so much money at WOM World/1000 Heads that they don’t know how to spend it all. Do a bus tour across the US. Hire a few thousand developers and pay them top dollar to create top shelf apps. BTW give Jan Ole Suhr an award on the front lawn of the White House for keeping Symbian alive. Sponsor the next natural disaster in the US by plunking down a 747 full of handsets with prepaid minutes and data preloaded and help people send email, Twitter, and FaceBook messages to their loved ones so they know their alright.
Nokia, you and I and many many others know you have the potential to succeed in the US but for pete’s sake go for it. Take off your suite coat and tie, roll up your sleeves and throw some punches. Stop making me look like a fool when I take out my Nokia phone at CTIA or MWC because people think I’m crazy for carrying a Nokia . I want to feel cool again if I whip out an E73 or an N8.
This probably sounds like a rant just like a bunch of others you’ve read lately from other bloggers. But here’s the thing, we all want to see Nokia succeed and flourish. We all have your best interest in mind. So LISTEN to what we have to say. My last suggestion for this blog post is this, fly a bunch of us Nokia enthusiasts, not only bloggers to all meet with the future CEO. I promise no one will yell at him, but let us tell him what we think and how we think he should fix the problems. Let’s do a full blown un-conference with a dude ranch or a tropical island setting and allow us 24 hours to explain ourselves.
Okay back to your regularly scheduled programming. Oh and I’m not going to edit this because I don’t want it to lose any of its edge.
Spending money is important, but I am not sure if that is the best approach in this industry. Lot of action is driven by word of mouth. Palm got a lot of press, but it did not convert into anything. Other than Apple, others who are successful in this space are not essentially spending a ton of money.
To me, if Nokia has to survive in this space, it needs to get on the Android bandwagon. It will give lot of publicity for free, lot of developer support, and almost solve all the problems that Nokia is facing.
Posted by Alok Saboo | August 26, 2010, 7:00 pm….they know their alright. ??????
Take off your suite coat ??????
Posted by JasonBN | August 27, 2010, 3:39 amAs this is my first comment on your blog ever, I guess I can say this is a brilliant piece?!
I agree Nokia needs to do more. Every day I go by the Nokia Flagship store on Michigan Ave. in Chicago and look to see if it’s still open. It’s one of the last few in the world I guess. But there’s no draw there. Usually it’s people just wandering in, shocked at the price of the devices, and foreign nationals asking about using their devices here. There’s no draw, no events, no buzz. Yet 2 blocks up, the line is out the door at the Apple store.
You’re right in saying they’re not dead, it’s just in the US nobody knows them. I hand someone my E72 and they admire it’s design and “heft” saying it’s more durable than their BlackBerry or other fragile device.
In the meantime, we’ll be in the small but mighty minority.
mp/m
Posted by Mike Maddaloni - @thehotiron | August 27, 2010, 12:16 pmGreat post, and great points, yes, Nokia does indeed need to get spending, and investing in big named events getting their name back into an household name in the US. They can do it, and I know that they are currently taking important steps to do just what you ask. Nokia are currently shutting down dead wood so to speak, Nokia Theatre is one just example. Flagship stores too, although these don’t make much sense this early on, there is motion, which will all become clear eventually.
Posted by Micky | August 30, 2010, 12:15 amI partly agree with your comment, because I don’t think the solution relies solely on spending money, that just looks like a desperate reaction and shotgun approach.
Two things is what Nokia has to do, maybe three (and this is where I agree with you)
1.- Market Orientation
2.- Market Orientation
3.- Market Orientation
This not only applies to their high-end line of handsets but to all the other mobiles in their portfolio.
What does this mean? Exactly what you said, listen to your customers. Where are all those applications that have extended the life time value of many other smartphones running Android and OS systems? Most importantly they have brought value to the final customer. Then after, you can come up with an integrated marketing campaign online and offline to build awareness about these new changes.
I’m seriously hoping for an outstanding reaction from Nokia, hopefully we will see it soon.
Cheers
An ex loyal and disappointed Nokia customer.
Posted by Victor Godinez | November 3, 2010, 12:42 amThis is December 2010 and I am currently reading posts from August stating that Nokia needs to take steps to make itself known in the US. To this date that currently has not happened and I don’t think that it will. why do I say this you ask? I am currently typing my comments with a Nokia N97, a device which nokia no longer supports. The very phone that Nokia once dubbed as th iphone killer. It was also once hailed as Nokia’s flagship device. Due to problems with it’s software the phone never lived up to it’s expectations. Instead of taking the time to fix the phones issues, Nokia decided to cut it’s losses and jump to the next project, the N8. To me, this is a sign that Nokia Won’t bother to address their current problems by taking the needed steps to fix them. They would rather jump to the next project in the hope that it will fix everything. They won’t tke the time to fix what’s broken. That is why they fail.
Posted by gman | December 26, 2010, 8:37 pm@GMan I agree with you for the most part but one of the biggest problems with the N97 is its minuscule RAM, which is something that can’t be fixed more then just a little bit with a software upgrade.
Thanks for taking your time to comment,
Jeb
Posted by Jeb Brilliant | December 26, 2010, 9:20 pm