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Mike Elgan: Why Nokia is toast

computerworld.com

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Re: Mike Elgan: Why Nokia is toast

#31

Post by nosse »

moe wrote: post #22
senko wrote: post #19

> There is huge, unmet demand in the world for a phone that does nothing but make calls. The Nokia 1100 [...] is a very simple GSM mobile phone produced by Nokia [...] the world's best selling phone handset as well as the best selling consumer electronics device in the world. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_1100 ) IMO the author has a point about the smartphones, but completely misses the mark here. It's very po…

It's very possible that low-end smartphones will take over the dumphone market soon Unlikely. There's a few elephants in the room here, the biggest being battery time. You'd be surprised how many people would give you a blank stare if you told them their next phone needs to re-charged almost every night, in exchange for being able to play angry birds... Also take a close look at the issues of your (presumably) high-e…

If Nokia would concentrate on good low end phone, maybe they could make a phone with a good sound quality. It's very hard to hear anything from modern phones when you actually try to talk to someone. And no one is even trying to fix that.

Re: Mike Elgan: Why Nokia is toast

#32

Post by moe »

zmmmmm wrote: post #29
moe wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very possible that low-end smartphones will take over the dumphone market soon Unlikely. There's a few elephants in the room here, the biggest being battery time. You'd be surprised how many people would give you a blank stare if you told them their next phone needs to re-charged almost every night, in exchange for being able to play angry birds... Also take a close look at the issues of your (presumably) high-e…

There's a few elephants in the room here, the biggest being battery time. You'd be surprised how many people would give you a blank stare if you told them their next phone needs to re-charged almost every night There's no fundamental reason Android devices won't emerge that have awesome (or at least, way better) battery life. We haven't seen demand for that in western markets simply because the high end phone space i…

Well, there's only so many trade-offs you can make on a cheap phone. A touchscreen is not only a big cost-factor and battery-drainer but also impairs usability of the core feature (making calls) significantly.

You can't read it in bright sunlight, you can't make calls "blind" because there's no keypad/tactile feedback, and even my high-end android has nasty input-lags - whereas all my old dumbphones respond instantly to any keypress.

Sure, you could cut out the touchscreen and still run android but that's hardly a smartphone then...

Re: Mike Elgan: Why Nokia is toast

#33

Post by Anechoic »

siika2000 wrote: post #3

The article says pretty much what I've been thinking: too many choices, consumers have no idea which Nokia phone is any good. However, I'm not so sure that this thinking is any good in the long run for Nokia, everybody says that company X should emulate Apple, it is just the easy thing to suggest because Apple is currently winning.

> * everybody says that company X should emulate Apple, it is just the easy thing to suggest because Apple is currently winning.*

Heh, too true. Just like 10 years ago pundits said that company X should emulate Microsoft.

Re: Mike Elgan: Why Nokia is toast

#34

Post by Anechoic »

rbanffy wrote: post #8
charleso wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But Apple did make Microsoft Internet Explorer the default browser on the Mac, which was Microsoft's battlefield at the time.

The browser is not part of the core of the operating system. And it was far less an important part of the user experience at that time.

> And it was far less an important part of the user experience at that time

I don't think that's necessarily true. The browser was an extremely important part of the user experience, but 2 things happened: 1) MS stopped developing IE which allowed Mozilla and Apple to leap frog MS in terms of user experience, and 2) the iPod came along which became a gateway drug to Macs and helped Apple become what it is today.

However the 90's Apple/today's Nokia analogy only fits if Nokia has something outside of phones that it can use to grow it's business. It remains to be seen if that's the case.

There's also the problem that Apple became more insular in terms of developing the whole widget and making sure it wasn't dependent (as much as it could) on ISVs while Nokia seems to be going in the exact opposite direction.

Re: Mike Elgan: Why Nokia is toast

#35

Post by zmmmmm »

danilocampos wrote: post #28
zmmmmm wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's comparing the only thing that matters any more - ecosystem mindshare.

Try something with your non-technical family members: "What do you think of the iPhone?" then "What do you think of the Android ecosystem?"

What about:

"What do you think about Google?"

Re: Mike Elgan: Why Nokia is toast

#37

Post by dennisgorelik »

"There is huge, unmet demand in the world for a phone that does nothing but make calls."

Correct.

I personally need something like that. I need a phone that has great connection quality, lightweight, has long battery life and has MP3 player. I do not need touch screen and smart features. Is anybody going to produce such phone for me?

Re: Mike Elgan: Why Nokia is toast

#38

Post by danilocampos »

zmmmmm wrote: post #35
danilocampos wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try something with your non-technical family members: "What do you think of the iPhone?" then "What do you think of the Android ecosystem?"

What about: "What do you think about Google?"

I think, given the below link, it's a bit of a stretch to believe that Google's brand association is having any sort of halo effect on the idea of Android (an operating system) or Android phones (the hardware):

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/06/browser-is-search-e...

Much like browsers and search engines, most people don't even know what an operating system is. How Google fits into the picture is extremely murky from that worldview.

Re: Mike Elgan: Why Nokia is toast

#39

Post by siika2000 »

dennisgorelik wrote: post #37

"There is huge, unmet demand in the world for a phone that does nothing but make calls." Correct. I personally need something like that. I need a phone that has great connection quality, lightweight, has long battery life and has MP3 player. I do not need touch screen and smart features. Is anybody going to produce such phone for me?

My current phone is slowly breaking and I've been searching for something along those lines. Samsung E2370 seems to fit the bill, though even it has some extraneous features:

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_e2370_xcover-3152.php

Re: Mike Elgan: Why Nokia is toast

#40

Post by wil2k »

dennisgorelik wrote: post #37

"There is huge, unmet demand in the world for a phone that does nothing but make calls." Correct. I personally need something like that. I need a phone that has great connection quality, lightweight, has long battery life and has MP3 player. I do not need touch screen and smart features. Is anybody going to produce such phone for me?

Except for the missing MP3 player:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_1100

Light, long long battery life and very robust. :)

(* Am using it in Europe, not sure about if it works on the frequencies in the U.S..)

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