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Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

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Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#1

Post by Vargas »

Disclaimer: I'm European. I have never been in the U.S. I am not related to Nokia at all.

Reading Hacker news and other U.S-centric news sites, it looks like there is nothing but Apple and Android. Whenever Nokia gets mentioned, there is some disdain. However, Nokia sells about 35% of all mobile devices in the world. I myself own one. I really like the platform. It is open source, it runs Java, it supports Flash and it is very pleasant to write applications using C++ and QT. It is a no-BS platform, just unlike Apple's policy-hell. In short, from my point of view is the ideal platform to build for: huge market, no politics, solid open source platform.

Why is it almost always ignored? Did they do something horribly wrong in the U.S. market and never recovered? Is it seen as "unpatriotic" because is foreign? Do you feel it as technically inferior?

Re: Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#2

Post by byoung2 »

I'm European. I have never been in the U.S

That's Nokia's problem as well. The cell-phone market in the US is much different from Europe and the rest of the world. It is my understanding that in Europe and the rest of the world people by phones (usually in cash) and service separately (often prepaid), so cell phone makers have only one customer to please: the end user.

In the US, where we are addicted to credit, people buy phones primarily through the cell phone provider for a big discount in exchange for signing a 1 or 2 year contract. Since the selection of phones drives the profit for the cell phone provider (See AT&T and the iPhone for an example), the phone company has a huge stake in making sure the phones fit their image. So the cell phone maker has 2 customers - the phone company and the end user. Every carrier has a signature phone: AT&T - iPhone, Verizon - Droid, Sprint - EVO 4G. These phones become almost synonymous with the carrier, and less with the brand (iPhone being the big exception).

Nokia's problem for the last decade is that they have been used to pleasing only the end user, that they have not been able to win over the American cell phone providers. A good example is the late 90's, where Americans had moved on to flip phones, but Nokia was still pushing brick/candy bar phones. They are starting to innovate, but they still haven't captured the heart of the American cell phone buyer.

The other hurdle for Nokia is CDMA. I'm not sure if they have CDMA versions of their phones (this is probably because they'd have to work with Sprint and Verizon to do so). They'd have to retool most of their phones to work in the US, which might not be worth it if the cell phone companies aren't on board.

Re: Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#6

Post by alanh »

byoung2 wrote: post #2

I'm European. I have never been in the U.S That's Nokia's problem as well. The cell-phone market in the US is much different from Europe and the rest of the world. It is my understanding that in Europe and the rest of the world people by phones (usually in cash) and service separately (often prepaid), so cell phone makers have only one customer to please: the end user. In the US, where we are addicted to credit, peop…

Of course Nokia has CDMA phones. For example, I used to have a Nokia feature phone on Tracfone, which piggybacked off the Verizon network.

There is little awareness of or marketing for Nokia smartphones. In my mind and in likely many others, Nokia phones belong to the past generation of button-only, non-touchscreen phones.

Re: Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#9

Post by aidenn0 »

[edit] Quick clarification: The OP compared Nokia to Apple and Android, so my answer was specifically about Nokia smartphones. Nokia feature-phones have always had a decent market share in the US, and I think that the average person in the US thinks of those feature-phones when they hear the word Nokia, and has no clue that the E or N series phones even exist. [/edit]

I live in the US. I've never actually seen a phone running Symbian in person. The only Nokia phones I've ever seen are feature phones. I don't just mean I don't know anyone that has one, I've never seen one in a store when shopping for a cell phone; of course I don't own one!

I work at a tech company where probably about half the people have smartphones of some sort. Until the iPhone, that meant something from RIM or Palm/Treo.

I would bet that the cell phone providers are primarily the ones at fault for this, but I'm not sure. Verizon is the largest Cell provider in the US by a large margin, and I understand they have all sorts of requirements if you want your phone to work on their network.

[edit] I just looked at the wikipedia page for the nokia E series and N series, and notice they are GSM only. I've only ever been on CDMA (and AMPS) based networks, so that explains a lot right there.

Here's an example of what people in the US think of when they hear "Nokia" it's the Nokia phone I've seen the most, with the possible exception of the old monocrhome candybars:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_6255i

Re: Ask HN: Why U.S. people dislike Nokia?

#10

Post by byoung2 »

alanh wrote: post #6
byoung2 wrote: post #2

I'm European. I have never been in the U.S That's Nokia's problem as well. The cell-phone market in the US is much different from Europe and the rest of the world. It is my understanding that in Europe and the rest of the world people by phones (usually in cash) and service separately (often prepaid), so cell phone makers have only one customer to please: the end user. In the US, where we are addicted to credit, peop…

Of course Nokia has CDMA phones. For example, I used to have a Nokia feature phone on Tracfone, which piggybacked off the Verizon network. There is little awareness of or marketing for Nokia smartphones. In my mind and in likely many others, Nokia phones belong to the past generation of button-only, non-touchscreen phones.

I meant to say CDMA versions of most of their phones, especially the newer smartphones. It would likely take a CDMA version of the n97, n95, n900, etc on Sprint or Verizon to win over the American public.
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