NokiaWorld: What a total waste of time and resources

By on September 16, 2010 in Opinion

Well that’s the dust settling after NokiaWorld 2010 and I am left feeling entirely empty.

Thank you for absolutely nothing, Nokia.

Writing or speaking the word ‘Nokia‘ is the muggle equivalent of deploying a Harry Potter style Dementor: All the joy immediately seeps out of your life.

This week the company vomited out a few handsets that I can’t even be bothered to write about.

There were a few announcements that I can’t be bothered to even begin to chronicle. A mobile developer won $1m (congratulations). And the party looked pretty good.

I wasn’t at NokiaWorld this year as consulting commitments prohibited my physical attendance. I’m was disappointed not to see Tesco’s Ed Hodges discuss the state of the industry.

I was also disappointed not to have filmed a walk-about video series with AllAboutSymbian‘s Rafe Blandford. Although, I think it was just as well — because I don’t believe I could have got through filming without machine-gunning the phrase ‘FCKING SH1T’ or “TOTAL RUBBISH” in between each of his points.

You only have to read the All About Symbian analysis of the E7 vs the E90 to get the underlying don’t-give-a-toss, leave-at-4pm mindset that’s completely infected Nokia and brought the company to a stand-still. Steve Lichfield, one of the most thorough device reviewers of our time, signs off his E7 piece thus:

I keep coming back to the ‘x steps forward, y steps back’ thought – yes, x may be greater than y, but shouldn’t y be as close to zero as possible?

In any other company, Steve, yes.

2 million downloads a day on Ovi. It’s creeping up. By hook or by crook.

Nobody cares.

It’s all irrelevant.

It’s all ‘also-ran’ because there’s no heart, no lion, no focused energy pushing the company forward to frame the array of achievements like the Ovi Store.

Despite the hard work of a talented few at Nokia, their efforts to date have been completely and unreservedly undermined by the rest of the leave-at-4pm Nokia crew.

Utterly, utterly depressing.

I am hopeful for the future. But I am also entirely realistic. It’s going to be years before we see anything worth looking at from Nokia, isn’t it?

Before the Symbian-fascists (Alex, I’m looking at you!) respond below, I’d like to point out that yes I know Nokia has a large marketshare. The company is doing a spectacularly brilliant job delivering dumbphones to the normob masses in the developing world. I know the company’s big. I know they’re still making profit.

Perhaps the strategy this week was to get the dog-and-pony-show over with as soon as possible so that they could come back to market with something decent in the next few months, or next year?

How long before Nokia is able to deliver a product or service to the market that has people talking about it around the watercoolers?

Please Mr Microsoft Office, get to work right-away.

Fix the malaise.

Show us genuine a glimpse of the future that doesn’t involve a bollocks set of tired UI constructs and a can’t-really-be-bothered set of products and services.

Move the markets.

Demonstrate that you have the collective will and abilities to take what Apple, HTC, Sony and Samsung have developed and leave it standing in the dust.

I don’t think Nokia has genuinely moved the market for years. Instead the company’s pigeonholed itself into competing in the race to zero, lauding itself for bringing mobile to hundreds of millions of people who were previously unconnected. There’s little merit there beyond the obvious basic reality of empowerment through connectivity. I get that. I buy it. I understand. What are you doing for the next generation though? What are you doing to move the top end of the marketplace forward?

Ah dear.

Utterly, utterly depressing.

About Ewan

Ewan is Founder and Editor of Mobile Industry Review. He writes about a wide variety of industry issues and is usually active on Twitter most days. You can read more about him or reach him with these details.
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  • http://www.mobileindustryreview.com Ewan

    You make some really good points Rafe — and I’m very pleased you have done so, because almost nobody else has bothered.

    You’re right, I didn’t make it to the event — but I was writing on my opinion and perspective from the output of the event.

    I do have a bit of a problem with your statement regarding the company’s new phones:
    “Will they bring people back from iOS or Android — probably not”

    That is my fundamental issue. I wanted to see so much more from the company.

    My problem is, I think, completely misaligned expectations.

    If I evaluate Nokia in the context of the wider lower-end market, they’re doing a brilliant, brilliant job. Is that where I should put my head? Walmart vs Gap?

  • http://www.allaboutsymbian.com Rafe Blandford

    I think this is about perception management… When does any company do things in one step? Even the mighty Apple iterates on a yearly basis. I think you also under appreciate the global scale and the implications that this has. The four devices each represent a potential bestsellers / hero device. I can’t remember the last time Nokia (or any company) announced a line up that covered a broad section of the market (€260 to €540) with those characteristics… Maybe they’re not totally aligned with geek desire, but I think they will connect well with the consumer.

    I think its necessary to recognise this is a step by step process. Nokia’s most important segment (and by far and away its largest) is existing Nokia customers. They want the familiar Nokia experience with good performance and functionality. This is who Symbian^3 is aimed at. This is step one.

    Step two is about winning back customers from iOS and Android (a relatively small group). If people behaved rationally Symbian^3 might be able to do this (parity in many areas, ahead / behind in others). However people do not behave rationally. Realistically it requires a new look / step change. This is what Symbian^4 and MeeGo will offer…

    But ultimately for Nokia’s long term health step one is much more important. We’re talking about 1 billion + compared to around 100 million.

    I’d hardly call the E7 and N8 mid tier. Best landscape QWERTY, best cameraphone – certainly arguable. Nokia is not just about the mid tier. It is a global company that covers the market from high to low end… However, I do feel Nokia is still strongest in the mid tier (i.e. it ahead), whereas in the high end it has work to do (parity I would say). However the focus on Nokia World was Symbian^3, but that does not mean that there is not more to come from Nokia this year.

    Incidentally I think you can still identify the app gap as an issue. How important you consider this is open to debate. How long the gap will exist is open to debate. However you do need to set this against other considerations – global reach (do the services with the device work in country x y z), price range (is there a device that fits into my price point), battery life (can it get through a day of decent usage), calling (is it still a good phone) and so on…

  • http://twitter.com/ChrisRedpath Chris Redpath

    Finally some discussion :-) Keep it up lads!

  • http://www.mobileindustryreview.com Ewan

    So my expectations are just ridiculously — perhaps ludicrously — misplaced, right?

    Such as shame.

    I shall reset them tonight.

  • http://www.mobileindustryreview.com Ewan

    I think it’s all about MeeGo for the high end users. Come on Nokia!

  • http://www.allaboutsymbian.com Rafe Blandford

    I don’t think your expectations are misplaced, but they are not all going to happen at the same time. Put it in the context of events from other manufacturers and assess in that light?

    I also think you might not be fully appreciating what did get announced.

    Taking one example (which I didn’t even mention above) – in-app billing – as well as credit card that’s going to support operator billing across 30+ countries. No one else does this. And operator billing can be a 3 or 4x multiplier in some countries in revenue terms. What would have the reaction been if someone other than Nokia had announced that?

  • http://www.mobileindustryreview.com Ewan

    The majority of the market, including the analyst community, just doesn’t get Nokia.

    That’s not their fault. They are still confidently predicting an Android world. They’ve been led down the garden path by other companies delivering nice hardware, software and services and doing a phenomenal job with marketing and PR.

    A single announcement — or collection of single announcements — delivered in a limpwristed slightly-depressed manner by executives that are not at all blessed by the marketing fairy — does next to nothing for Nokia’s cause.

    Especially in San Francisco.

    So it’s not the market’s fault for missing things. It’s the company’s problem for getting the narrative badly wrong.

    They should be employing you to advise their senior executives on getting it right so that you and I don’t have to do this bit Rafe.

  • http://www.mobileindustryreview.com Ewan

    That Silicon Valley comment is shocking!

  • http://www.ceramic-mug.cn/ ceramic-mugs

    I’ve opted to remove my post because I may have jumped the gun in my judgement of the piece.

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