Well it’s going to be an interesting Friday.
I was absolutely delighted to hear from one hugely respected source that Nokia will announce Windows Phone 7 support on Friday. Yesteday, a whole load of other sources confirmed the same.
The precise nature of the Windows Phone 7 announcement is unclear at the moment. Are we going to see one throw-away Windows Phone 7 Nokia device rushed to market to satisfy the baying masses before the ‘Windows’ strategy is quietly dumped 6 months later?
Or are we going to see an entire division or segment of the company begin to deliver multiple devices at multiple price points with an on-going roadmap stretching out 3-4 years? Will we see a series of class-leading 20-megapixel Windows Phone 7 devices hit the market in the summer? I wonder.
What is clear is that something big has to happen. When even the credit rating agencies start sabre rattling, it’s time for a significant change in strategy.
As far as many are concerned, Nokia is well past the ‘written off’ stage and wading through the swamp of irrelevance as far as many are concerned. The N97 didn’t help. The N8 (despite selling pretty well) solidified the market’s perspective: Change, please.
The fact the company is still shipping hundreds of millions of devices means next to nothing in the eyes of the Western tech/media/marketplace. It would have been fine if Nokia announced it was only focusing on the developing markets by only producing feature phones. The market would have left Nokia alone.
Nokia’s inability to at least half-delight the tech media/market with smart, exciting and fun devices and services, especially in the high end, has made life very, very difficult for them.
So this week, I’m sure we will certainly see the beginnings of some kind of big theme. I worry that it will be watered down and not quite as bold the market needs it to be. Either way we’ll get a good demonstration of how much of a handle Stephen Elop has on the company.
It’s certainly sounding good. I’m particularly excited as the possibility of the establishment of a ‘virtual headquarters’ in Silicon Valley (If memory serves, I think this was muted by the Financial Times today). It really won’t take too much to get Nokia back dominating the market.
Bring on Friday. Bring on Mobile World Congress. Come on Nokia!
i’m wondering, if this article is as valid, as one from 2008 (see related posts) asking, if nokia will become monopoly by 2011? 🙂
btw: there is also article about “zune phone”.
If this is really true, even just the bit about the “virtual headquarters” it will not only be the end of the road for Nokia as viable company that is respected the world over as one that can keep it’s promises to it’s developers, amongst many other things, but it will herald the emergence of the bigoted, myopic Silcon Valley based “press” as the leaders of the technological highway. No longer will true innovation be valued and worthwhile, “innovation” will only be seen as such if it “impresses” the S.V. tech press.
Friday could be a very sad day indeed.
Aye, it’s going to be quite a ride I think
On 8 February 2011 09:20:11 UTC, Disqus <
If this is what they’re announcing, I’m going to gently pivot one hand at the wrist and wave goodbye to the last of Nokia’s credibility. WP7, whilst really quite good, is just going to drag them down.
Running the Dalvik engine within Meego to enable 3rd party Android apps, whilst retaining core services like email and mapping, would have been a strategy.
If you hire Clippy as your CEO, this is what you get.
Rumour has it that Nokia and Google could not agree terms…
Friday should be very interesting. Here’s a bit more background on Elop’s thinking via an internal memo at Nokia. http://eu.techcrunch.com/2011/02/07/nokia-heading-to-silicon-valley-and-the-standing-on-a-burning-platform-memo/
This doesn’t surprise me. Though technically Nokia could do anything they want with Android, they just wouldn’t be allowed gmail, google maps etc. Strategically they wouldn’t want these anyway.
I’d wager if Nokia said… Hey Android developers, put your apps in Ovi for our new devices, a fair few of them would do…
It will be a sad day indeed if Nokia commit to a third-party OS that has severely limited technical capabilities, offers almost no way for them to differentiate themselves from other vendors using the OS, and has so far failed to kindle anyone’s imagination. WP7 sold significantly less units in Q4 2010 than Nokia’s N8, despite a launch by multiple manufacturers, and with significantly more exposure in the US tech press.
So maybe after all the US tech press is not what determines the success of a device or platform when it comes to actual sales?
Oh, and Bada had a much better launch than WP7, and no U.S.-centric tech journalist would applaud Nokia for offering a device with Bada.
Really enjoyed your post on that Steve
Alas I think your points are being rendered mute by the market reaction.
Look at Moodys and Standard & Poors, both rattling their sabres ready for a
Nokia downgrade.
With the standardized hardware requirements of Windows Phone 7 this allows Nokia as a hardware company to differentiate how? If joining Android was peeing in your pants according to Anssi Vanjoki what would this be?
I just hope Nokia doesn’t drop MeeGo on ARM devices as some rumours are suggesting. For anyone who has actually used Maemo or MeeGo its showing a lot of promise and just needs someone to drive it over a finish line rapidly
Bad news then?
Well, short-term market reaction would be the only reason to do this. And as much power as the ratings agencies wield – I think we all know by now how much you can really trust their ratings.
You’re absolutely right about trusting the ratings firms. Do you reckon
we’ll see a short term WinMo7 handset from Nokia whilst the company carries
on with its existing strategy? To appease the Valley?
Thanks Ewan.
How about you stop speculating about this. Wait until friday to get the real story. 3 days to go !
Right now there is limited hardware suppoted but those standards are only meant to be minimum. Nokia will have to have those buttons somewhere on the device but beyond that they can innovate. That goes for software too, Windows Phone 7 is not limiting OEM’s when it comes to software and services.
Personally I think this would be a very strong move for both parties. Nokia is great at Hardware and Software applications/services and Windows Phone 7 allows them to focus on these two areas without worrying about the underlying OS.
What about Qt support extended fully to WP7?
What about Qt support extended fully to WP7?
Why?