Live data from Hacker News

RIP, Nokia (1865 - 2014)

pandodaily.com

21–30 of 53 posts

Re: RIP, Nokia (1865 - 2014)

#21
post #15
post #5

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).

Who are they losing marketshare to in China?

Cheaper Chinese-made brands?

Re: RIP, Nokia (1865 - 2014)

#22

"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.

It's a bit of a bizarre claim to begin with given that there are a number of manufacturers pitching Windows Phone devices to very limited success. So instead of being a possible also-ran me-too in a large, successful market, they're an also-ran me-too in a small, uncertain market. I'm not buying the logic. If they used the Android bit to explain a wholesale adoption of Meego or Tizen or something then sure. But going…

To be fair, I certainly wouldn't call the other manufacturers offerings for Windows Phone to be exactly whole-hearted. Have we seen a single non-Nokia device that isn't a port of hardware used for their Android offerings?

Re: RIP, Nokia (1865 - 2014)

#23
Elop killed this company basically. He should be fired by the board today, though it's probably too late already.

Should Android have been chosen, which is unlikely by someone just came out form Microsoft, Nokia might have tens of also-run products now, but at least Nokia will not die, or not die that fast.

Re: RIP, Nokia (1865 - 2014)

#24
post #3
post #2

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.

I hear Blackberry is still going strong in Indonesia as well. Still, worldwide, they're doomed.

Anectodally I saw 1 person in Indonesia with a Blackberry - and she hated it. I saw hundreds of (local) iPhone users.

Re: RIP, Nokia (1865 - 2014)

#25

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…

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 a…

On the other hand, Android that is put on devices by (some of the) manufacturers is a big piece of shit. And they don't intend to update it either. Honestly, I would rather have a phone with confusing UI than one that is slow and keeps crashing.

That being said, I own a phone I have to root in order to get a decent system only because of the app base. Even average non-tech user browses sites and stumbles upon mobile apps every day. There is always an iPhone app, most of the time Android one and very very occasionally a Windows Phone version.

So windows seems to be an obscure choice in mobile market nowadays. Even though it's probably superior to Android.

Re: RIP, Nokia (1865 - 2014)

#26
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.

Re: RIP, Nokia (1865 - 2014)

#27

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…

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 a…

"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...

Re: RIP, Nokia (1865 - 2014)

#28

"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.

The Pando author also seems to have forgotten that Android saved Motorola, took HTC to new heights and enabled Amazon and B&N to make tablet lines of their own.

Re: RIP, Nokia (1865 - 2014)

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bit of a bizarre claim to begin with given that there are a number of manufacturers pitching Windows Phone devices to very limited success. So instead of being a possible also-ran me-too in a large, successful market, they're an also-ran me-too in a small, uncertain market. I'm not buying the logic. If they used the Android bit to explain a wholesale adoption of Meego or Tizen or something then sure. But going…

To be fair, I certainly wouldn't call the other manufacturers offerings for Windows Phone to be exactly whole-hearted. Have we seen a single non-Nokia device that isn't a port of hardware used for their Android offerings?

Nokia's Lumia 800 also borrowed the design from their N9 MeeGo phone, with some softkeys added

Re: RIP, Nokia (1865 - 2014)

#30
post #5

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).

I wonder if at the same time markets still grow at an enourmous rate, so that even a declining market share could still be a net increase? Apparently it doesn't seem to be the case for Nokia atm, just saying that market share alone is maybe insufficient.
Post reply on HN