
RIP, Nokia (1865 - 2014) - simba-hiiipower
http://pandodaily.com/2012/06/16/rip-nokia-1965-2014/
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ernesth
Is this a serious piece of writing or just trolling?

> 2003-2008 = back when euro was worth real money.

1 euro was worth between 1.1 and 1.5$. Now, it is worth 1.25$...

> Rather than spend its resources on building an OS that depended on novel
> interfaces and sensors,

Like the first (and best) GPS phones?

> that allowed for outside development

Like symbian and the nokia owned qt creator.

> If Nokia had gone with Android[...] Windows Phone, on the other hand [...]

Aren't you forgetting the numerous other hands that are symbian and its
successors: tizen, meego and meltemi?

> Elop [...] clear-eyed

Humm. Choosing to ditch their own system to use another one may have been a
bold and smart move, but still developping 2 or 3 different systems while
trying to integrate an external new (and unproven) one seems to me like
increasing the problem rather than solving it.

~~~
krakensden
> Is this a serious piece of writing or just trolling?

Note the author. All his articles are like this.

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jinushaun
"If Nokia had gone with Android, the best that it might have achieved was to
become an also-ran—another in an endless stream of me-too commodity smartphone
makers."

No. Nokia could've been Samsung, which has the lion's share of the Android
market. And Android Lumia would be the prettiest Android handset on the
market.

~~~
chris_wot
I have to agree. My friend bought a Samsung SII the other day, and I was
mighty impressed. However, we soon saw a number of shortcomings, and none of
it was really the phone hardware or even Android itself.

Instead, it was the way that the phone software UI was put together. It was
awful. So bad, in fact, that my friend replaced almost all of the software
widgets and components with his own - by the end the phone looked amazing, and
virtually nothing like Samsung/Telstra's UI.

And this is where Nokia could win. By producing amazing, kick-arse phones
(which we actually know they can do!) and putting on Android, with a
compelling feature-set, I believe they'd wipe the floor with Samsung, et al.
Probably not so much with Apple, but they could yet compete head to head with
them.

The innovation just isn't there. I don't see it with WP8. There's just not
enough compelling reasons for me to go back to Nokia. And I was so badly burnt
by the last phone I used, that I'm unlikely to go back without a good reason!

~~~
stcredzero
_However, we soon saw a number of shortcomings, and none of it was really the
phone hardware or even Android itself._

Seems like there's a tremendous opportunity for the right group to prosper.
I'm not sure that's Nokia.

Apple combines several factors:

    
    
        - A culture of good programming that works well
        - A culture of good design
        - A company where the efforts of different parts are well aligned
        - The ability to market
    

If Nokia can do all of the above, they would win. History has shown that they
aren't this company.

------
barranger
While I certainly wouldn't call Nokia's position anything but worrisome, I
think it might be a little early to start planning the funeral.

One of the benefits Nokia has by going with Windows Phone is the relationship
it now has with Microsoft. I'd be very surprised if Nokia's tablet offering
isn't front and center in just about every piece of marketing MS does.

The biggest issue that Windows Phone has currently is a lack of third party
applications. I really do think that standardizing the platform across
Phone/Tablet/PC will help in a big way with this problem (not pushing them to
higher numbers than iOS/Android, but much, much closer than they are today).

~~~
jinushaun
For the average non-tech user, is the lack of third party apps really that big
of an issue? In all honesty, all they need is Facebook, Twitter, Angry Birds
and sudoku, which WP7 has. You're really not at a loss for apps when it comes
to the popular 1st tier apps.

The bigger issue, from my personal experience seeing people pick up and use a
WP7 device, is that it's awkward to use compared to the grid of icons in iOS
and Android. They're utterly confused and have no idea how to even begin.
Metro, as executed by MS, is simply not intuitive. The starkness of the white
on black text is cold and unfriendly. Interaction paradigms they learned from
iOS and Android are slightly different in WP7, which results in frustration
around every corner. The pure icon based menus make it a guessing game on
which icon does what. From my personal experience, regular people have a much
easier time switching between Android and iOS. WP is just too different.

~~~
seanalltogether
"For the average non-tech user, is the lack of third party apps really that
big of an issue?"

Yes - [http://paidcontent.org/2010/09/09/419-average-number-of-
apps...](http://paidcontent.org/2010/09/09/419-average-number-of-apps-
downloaded-to-iphone-40-android-25/)

~~~
wtvanhest
That was written almost 2 years ago when it was thought to have mattered. I
have about 7 apps installed on my phone, 2 of which are angry birds and angry
birds space. I have the kindle app, facebook, and a weather app which sucks.

Any really strong selling app for iPhone, will make it to Andriod which will
make it to Windows.

The number of apps in your market is not really important when you have the
web.

[ADDED] This may not be as true for Apple users because of the smaller screen
size and slower web. For me, I have the LTE Galaxy so I just go right to the
web. It is almost as good as my laptop due to the larger screen and LTE. I
would guess when the new iPhone comes out, apps will probably become even less
important.

~~~
willyt
I hate it when people say 'just use the web'. Just because _you_ have a great
data connection, doesn't mean everyone does. I have a terrible[1] data
connection where I live. I have quite a few apps which I need to work with
only intermittent connectivity to fulfil their main purpose: Mail, Theodolite
(Photos with telemetry), Outdoors GB(Offline maps), Numbers(Spreadsheets),
Sketches, Collins French<->English, Billings (Time charge app), Dropbox (Files
favourited for offline access), Fill That Hole... and more I can't be bothered
to list. If these required a data connection to launch them they would be
useless to me and therefore it would be pointless to own a smartphone. I know
there are probably web equivalents with offline storage for one or two of
these (although how do you know if a web app is really offline capable?) but
its unrealistic _at this point in time_ to say that the web can replace native
apps feature for feature for most users especially with the current local
database size limits for web apps.

The whole assumption of a constant connection thing really gets on my nerves
and there are plenty of native apps which are hobbled by it. There's nothing
more frustrating than launching a native app which logically should be self
contained only to have it sit there with the UI blocking for ages while it
tries to access something on a crap data connection. For example, I truly hate
the CalMac ferry app because it should just cache the timetable data in a
CoreData (or a web app with offline database would work well too), its
probably <100k of timetable data and it yet it tries to redownload a _PDF_ for
my ferry seemingly every time I try to access it......Grrrrrrr (timetable
stashed in dropbox instead).

[1]About 1-3 bars of 2G signal. No 3G signal within 100 miles in every
direction from where I'm sitting.

~~~
wtvanhest
Note, I didn't say _just use the web_.

I told you what I do which is what everyone else will do. I don't need to tell
them, it will happen on its on.

The vast majority of people who can afford smart phones live in areas where
there is consistent internet.

In heavily populated areas the trend toward improving internet connectivity
will continue. Eventually the productivity gains from creating apps will only
be useful in specific situations.

Areas now that are still hard to use internet are improving in most cities.
Places like metros, basements, etc will all have internet some day.

If you are stuck somewhere very rural, you will be increasingly fustrated.

------
mtgx
Nokia won't last until 2014. They are declining too fast. They went from 45%
market share to 18% in China, one of their strongest and biggest markets, last
year alone. This year they will probably fall way below 10%. Nokia will most
likely be acquired by the end of this year or in the first half of next year
(or go bankrupt otherwise).

~~~
sp332
Who are they losing marketshare to in China?

~~~
bergie
It seems to domestic Android players like Huawei and ZTE:
[http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2011-07/22/content_129...](http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2011-07/22/content_12960107.htm)

------
suprgeek
(One person's anecdotes do not a trend make - I know) I can offer an Indian
perspective - When I was first shopping for a good phone in India in 2008 or
so, every single person (techie) said "Nokia" without hesitation. From the
savviest Tecno-geek to the manual laborer at a construction site -everyone had
a Nokia.

Fast forward to 2011 late/early 2012; virtually NONE of the techies I interact
with recommended a Nokia. Infact, I haven't heard even one of my
friends/acquaintances purchase a new Nokia; it is always Samsung/HTC/iPhones
or rarely Blackberry. On the lower end, the flood of cheap Chinese phones in
the Indian market means no cheap Nokia's.

Nokia was a name many people swore by in India, now not so much...I am afraid
the end is near for them.

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fidz
Nokia get rid this problem by doing some encouragement to develop in their
_old_ J2ME/Symbian platform in such country that still have good market share
like Indonesia. In Indonesia, Nokia encourage developer to develop games in
their platform in a contest named "Developer War", and now it has 4
episode/chapter.

~~~
obiterdictum
_old J2ME/Symbian platform_

No. Just... no.

I'm really pleased that Symbian is dead (or on life support). It is, so far,
the worst platform I have ever had to deal with. Eclipse-based IDE for
€300-1300, partner-only premium APIs, completely unusable multi-gigabyte
emulator (if you needed to run two instances, you had to install... two copies
in different directories!), awful documentation, terrible system libraries,
and quirky Symbian C++ dialect... it was quite an experience, but I will never
miss it.

Anything we have today is better than Symbian.

~~~
icebraining
For an hobbyist like myself, PyS60 was nice, though. Easy to install and
really fast to code something up. Is there anything like that for Android?

------
nicholassmith
I don't think it's necessarily game over for Nokia, but they've got to
drastically rethink their game plan.

They burned through cash getting the Lumia phones ready, gorgeous as they are,
which is a gamble not yet to pay off. They're using the third horse in the
race, a platform which it's creators have yet to successfully manage into the
mainstream consciousness. Too many flaws to stand next to Android and iOS, but
not completely down yet.

Lets not forget Nokia is still one of the biggest mobile handset companies in
the world, they've got a solid brand name appreciation in areas of the world
yet to be opened up.

Essentially they've still got chips left on the table, it just depends on the
next run of cards whether they grow their stack or not. But lets not get in
the way of a snappy headline.

~~~
bitwize
_I don't think it's necessarily game over for Nokia, but they've got to
drastically rethink their game plan._

Flash their back catalogue of 800s with stock ICS, call it the Nokia Lumia A,
sell them for $200 a pop (sans contract). That'll stem the bleeding and give
them time to come up with their _real_ Galaxy-killer.

~~~
nicholassmith
I'd imagine they can't, under terms of their agreement with Microsoft, but
that might not be forever so maybe they will. But is the market ready for yet
another Android handset? It's a thin share of the pie as it is.

------
greyerzer
If Nokia actually dies, Microsoft will pretty much have to buy them in order
to ensure that they don't lose their (rather shaky) grasp on the mobile market
(more of a foot in the door really...) That would make Microsoft the third
company producing an entire mobile ecosystem of its own after Apple and
Google. It's interesting to observe that the technological trend towards
ecosystems is also happenning in the business sphere, albeit with some delay.

Also, I would be sad to see Nokia go - I always liked their well-built (dumb)
phones.

------
deepGem
I met a Nokia developer evangelist at one of the events and asked him about
some of the map features. The dude told me that he would get back but never
bothered to. I'm not judging a company by one individual's behavior, but it
surely gave me a negative impression about their developer evangelism.

------
itsbits
Windows 8 preview is good..may be not windows7 killer with PCs..but surely can
compete with Android OS in mobile devices....only problem with Windows 8 is
free development tools..hope MS looks into it..else it may loose the race
before it starts....

and saying 'RIP Nokia' is very bad...i feel Nokia is still the best with its
hardware and looks..i like Nokia 900 looks n hardware rather S3....

Android would have been better option...but they can switch to ANdroid as well
when Windows 8 is not helping..there should be no worries about that...

