Nokia/MS alliance for Windows Phone 7 - do you think it will work?

[mammador]

I don't think it can. Android and iOS already have the brand loyalty attached, and Windows Phone has a small marketshare as it is. Nokia may be the biggest phone maker, but this is just feature/dumb phones. Who frankly needs a dumb phone now? In the initial 3G era maybe, but since the mid 2000s, feature phones have become more or less redundant.

It depends IMO on the quality of phones and the marketing employed by Nokia. If I were a Nokia top management figure, I'd be looking to make a good release to match the iPhone 5. In any scenario, any new Nokia phone with Windows 7 has to match the iPhone, it's the gold standard after all.

 

[zerocool84]

Of course it can work. Windows has already been gaining marketshare since WP7 came out. More competition is always a good thing. Also, you have no idea how big Nokia is. They've been making smartphones for a while and Nokia still makes high quality hardware. How can you match a phone that's not even out yet? Also you don't need to match the iPhone at all. Windows Phone 7 is gaining ground, they just need to build upon what they already have.

 

[smartpatrol]

WP7 is a great OS, and Nokia make some of the best smartphone hardware out there. Of course it can work.

 

[kaerflog]

I haven't tried out Win7 but I'm hearing good stuff about it.
The one thing I like is that Win7 has GPU acceleration just like iOS.
People say the UI is buttery smooth and considering most Win7 phones are still on the old Snapdragon, its a sign of a good OS.
My biggest pet peeve is the home screen consisting of colored squares.
I think its aweful.
At least make the squares transparent so we can have wallpapers.
Nokia has the right to customize the OS so I'm hoping it will make it more attractive.

iOS is closed off to Apple.
Android people are already grumbling about fragmentation and choppy UI.
Win7 was bleak before but with Nokia backing, it certainly will succeed.

 

[cronos]

It can work, and it will.

 

[Fox5]

Of course it can work. Windows has already been gaining marketshare since WP7 came out. More competition is always a good thing. Also, you have no idea how big Nokia is. They've been making smartphones for a while and Nokia still makes high quality hardware. How can you match a phone that's not even out yet? Also you don't need to match the iPhone at all. Windows Phone 7 is gaining ground, they just need to build upon what they already have.

Last numbers I saw, Windows has overall lost market share. (if you include windows mobile + windows phone as one entity)
Of course Windows Phone is gaining market share, it's going from 0.

There's a thread just below this one about the phone that saved 3 companies. I think this will be the business venture that destroyed 1 or 2. Technology markets rarely support more than 1 strong player and 1 marginal player, and they still have a somewhat strong RIM to contend with too.

 

[Dulanic]

I could deffinately see it working. Nokia needs to boost their business and I see WP7 being a good base to start rebuilding with. Symbian is dying/dead and they need something new and I think WP7 is a great option.

 

[darkewaffle]

Last numbers I saw, Windows has overall lost market share. (if you include windows mobile + windows phone as one entity)
Of course Windows Phone is gaining market share, it's going from 0.

There's a thread just below this one about the phone that saved 3 companies. I think this will be the business venture that destroyed 1 or 2. Technology markets rarely support more than 1 strong player and 1 marginal player, and they still have a somewhat strong RIM to contend with too.

The only markets that I can think of that fall neatly into that division are consumer microprocessors and GPUs. Other components, and more broadly, other devices tend to be very competitive with numerous major players in fluctuation.

And I wouldn't call Windows Mobile and Windows Phone one entity. Mobile never had the presence to create a real 'user base' or community (which creates loyalty), and the services are dissimilar enough that I don't think many Mobile users would implicitly become Phone users.

 

[Pliablemoose]

No.

 

[Fire&Blood]

"Two turkeys do not make an eagle" A statement made by a Nokia executive regarding another company abandoning it's platform just a few years ago and it came back to bite them.

Seriously now, I don't see why it wouldn't succeed. But I don't see a compelling reason to be an early adopter of the WP7 platform at this stage.

Nokia has been my favorite until about 3 years ago. They failed to stay up to date with the smartphone trend, it was 2008 and they acted as if it was still 2005. While Apple hit the jackpot with the iphone, Nokia ignored the change that occurred in what the consumer wants.

I dual boot WP7 but I rarely use it. It does have potential though. It will be a while before I consider buying a WP7 phone, the platform needs to mature some more.

I'm still holding a grudge with Microsoft regarding winmo fail and the 3 button WP7 requirement was bogus IMO.

Unless RIM commes up with a miraculous recovery, I can see the remaining winmo, symbian and blackberry refugees migrate to WP7.

New customers, like teenagers and dumb phone converts are more likely to pick Android or iOS.

It will be interesting to see if WP7 can establish itself beyond stagnation and start stealing market share from Android.

IOS is the most mature platform, Android is a quarter or 2 away. Once all major platform are at the same stage, their success will depend on how agile they are to respond t customer demands at which point the multi OEM platforms should be able to threaten the iphone more seriously.

 

[Deeko]

Nokia makes some beautiful hardware - the N8 and E7 were awesome phones, hamstrung by Symbian. Slap on Windows Phone 7 - the Mango release will be out by then, which addresses tons of issues - and you've got a potentially awesome phone.

Not to mention, one of the things Nokia is still really good at is selling cheap phones to lots of people. They've stressed that they want to take WP7 to the masses. Considering that by the time these phones come out, the first gen Snapdragon will be almost 3 years old, Nokia can easily mass produce a cheap phone that helps usher in a new generation of dumbphone users.

That's something people need to remember - yes, iOS and Android are well entrenched in their positions, but this market is still rapidly expanding. There is a ton of room for growth, and Nokia/Microsoft are banking on eating a lot of that new marketshare.

 

[shortylickens]

I sincerely hope so. But since Microsoft is late to the game and Nokia is REALLY late, they better do more than just stick the OS on their phone and call it a day. When they put out their first new handset it better have plenty of extras like awesome offline navigation (large internal storage of course) good media player that supports lots of formats, super smooth interface, tons of widgets/gadgets that do pretty much everything for you, and probably several good free games like 4 varieties of solitaire, some shooters, a racer.
What else?
Silky smooth web experience, thats gonna be needed of course. Good 4G netflix and hulu experience. I think 3G is asking a bit much.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The problem is Nokia will still have penetration issues in the US. The fact is the world will keep buying Nokias and the US will continue to be ignorant.

 

[shortylickens]

The problem is Nokia will still have penetration issues in the US. The fact is the world will keep buying Nokias and the US will continue to be ignorant.

Tmobile has lots of Nokias. AT&T just bought Tmobile.
MS wants their OS to succeed in a competitive market. I suspect MS will be sucking big AT&T ass pretty soon.

 

[s44]

Nokia makes some beautiful hardware - the N8 and E7 were awesome phones, hamstrung by Symbian.

No they weren't. Screen resolutions from the stone age, as always with Nokia.

On the other hand, Microsoft's minimum specs are just what Nokia needs to keep from cheaping themselves out of the competitive smartphone market.

 

[zerocool84]

No they weren't. Screen resolutions from the stone age, as always with Nokia.

On the other hand, Microsoft's minimum specs are just what Nokia needs to keep from cheaping themselves out of the competitive smartphone market.

Yes they were, Nokia has always made awesome hardware. Hardware is more than just the screen resolution.

 

[s44]

Nokia has always done well with design, materials, and features that were important from the dumbphone days (camera, call quality). Smartphone-era hardware (CPU, GPU, screen, memory) they haven't understood as important, and have cheaped out generation after generation -- like RIM, though the Torch 2 et al. seem to show the latter finally getting a clue.

They more than anyone need Microsoft's minimum HW spec to produce a plausibly-featured handset.

 

[Deeko]

No they weren't. Screen resolutions from the stone age, as always with Nokia.

On the other hand, Microsoft's minimum specs are just what Nokia needs to keep from cheaping themselves out of the competitive smartphone market.

I didn't say they were perfect, but overall, they were very good phones.

Nokia has always done well with design, materials, and features that were important from the dumbphone days (camera, call quality). Smartphone-era hardware (CPU, GPU, screen, memory) they haven't understood as important, and have cheaped out generation after generation -- like RIM, though the Torch 2 et al. seem to show the latter finally getting a clue.

They more than anyone need Microsoft's minimum HW spec to produce a plausibly-featured handset.

Its been suggested that Nokia doesn't go with the highest end CPUs because they just haven't needed it. Unlike some other operating systems, Symbian was remarkably efficient. Sure, the UI was not very good...but the OS as a whole did a lot with a little.

 

[s44]

Its been suggested that Nokia doesn't go with the highest end CPUs because they just haven't needed it. Unlike some other operating systems, Symbian was remarkably efficient.

Fair enough, but you could also say that the low-spec CPUs limited what they could add to Symbian.

I actually think it's part of their culture from the dumbphone heyday. You see SonyEricsson behaving similarly in the Android arena -- their flagship releases this year are Adreno 205 Snapdragons? Cmon!

 

[Deeko]

Its possible. Either way, I'm excited at the possibilities. Yea, the resolution was a little low, but I love the design of the E7, and hope they can make something like that this year.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I think Nokia has one chance, which is the opposite from what us techy types want:

Try from day one to make a phone for the "get a phone free with two year contract" market that RIM currently dominates and Android plans to dominate. Eat RIM's heart out by being THE cheap smartphone.

On the high end they will never beat Apple, and the middle group isn't large enough to survive on- especially when your brand in America has been associated with "throw away phones" for years.

Go after that average person that really thinks the thrown in phones are "free," hype to them how awesome it will be to have a phone "that runs Windows just like rich people's computer do," and do your best to co-brand with Facebook/Twitter/etc. so that those people who just want a phone to be a nearly dedicated Facebook device will be drawn to it.

Then watch Nokia's (and MS's) market share explode.

 

[mammador]

Of course it can work. Windows has already been gaining marketshare since WP7 came out. More competition is always a good thing. Also, you have no idea how big Nokia is. They've been making smartphones for a while and Nokia still makes high quality hardware. How can you match a phone that's not even out yet? Also you don't need to match the iPhone at all. Windows Phone 7 is gaining ground, they just need to build upon what they already have.

In any industry, one must match or rival the market leader. Nokia obviously wants a larger share of the pie, so for this to be done it has to build a model that can rival the iphone. Samsung has the Galaxy SII, HTC had the Desire, we'll see what Nokia can devise with a Windows OS.

 

[mammador]

WP7 is a great OS, and Nokia make some of the best smartphone hardware out there. Of course it can work.

Which handset does Nokia make today that is iPhone rivalling? The E8 is an old device, and Nokia has nothing out now that is cutting edge. Getting a decent OS is one thing, but Nokia need to translate their past hardware quality to today's market.

I think Nokia is selling plenty of dumbphones, but in the developing world as few there can afford Apple, HTC's or Samsung's phones. Whilst setting the trend in the initial smartphone market, they've been left behind somewhat and need to catch up.