SHOCKER: NOKIA TO STOP SELLING SYMBIAN CELLPHONES IN THE U.S. AND CANADA, BETS ALL ON NEW MICROSOFT WIN PHONE 7 PARTNERSHIP

Nokia plans to stop selling both feature phones and Symbian-based smartphones in the United States and Canada as it tries to put all of its muscle behind the company’s huge bet on Windows Phone.

 

In an interview with AllThingsD, the head of Nokia’s U.S. subsidiary said that the company will also focus exclusively on sales through traditional wireless carriers. In the past, Nokia has sold its smartphones at full price to consumers, after finding carriers unwilling to significantly subsidize or market the products. It has also had a significant — if low margin — business selling low-cost feature phones.

However, Nokia says it needs to put all of its efforts into its Windows Phone products, which are due out later this year.

Nokia Inc. President Chris Weber said in an interview.

“When we launch Windows Phones we will essentially be out of the Symbian business, the S40 business, etc.  It will be Windows Phone and the accessories around that. The reality is if we are not successful with Windows Phone, it doesn’t matter what we do (elsewhere).”

North America is a priority for Nokia, Weber said, in part because it is a key market for Microsoft and also because Nokia sees it as a key to winning in the smartphone battle globally.

Weber reiterated.  

“We’ll develop for North America and make the phones globally available and applicable.  In fact, evidence of that is that the first Windows Phones that will ship are being done by our group in San Diego.”

Nokia plans its biggest-ever marketing push focused on reestablishing its presence in the U.S.

Weber repeated.  

“Without getting into numbers, it is significantly larger than anything we have done in the past and the most we will invest in any market worldwide. They are putting their money where their mouth is.”

T-Mobile did start selling a Symbian smartphone earlier this year — the Nokia Astound — but it’s launch came after Nokia had already announced its move to Windows Phone and sales have been disappointing, Nokia Weber confirmed.

The moves are part of a series of changes that Nokia has made since Weber assumed the top U.S. post in February. Like Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, Weber came from Microsoft, where he most recently headed enterprise sales.

As part of the shift, Nokia also said it has no current plans to bring its lone Meego-based phone, the Nokia N9, to the U.S., a fact reported earlier Tuesday by Engadget and profiled in my blog (see below).

The company is moving its sales force to Sunnyvale, and Weber told AllThingsD that the company also aims to consolidate more of its operations in Sunnyvale, shifting away work now done in other facilities in White Plains, N.Y., and Dallas. Those changes are expected to be made by early next year.

COMMENTARY:   On July 21, 2011, IDC and Strategy Analytics announced that Apple has overtaken Nokia as the largest smartphone producer in the world.  During it's Q3 2011 quarterly earnings report, Apple announced that it had sold 20.3 million iPhones in the quarter ending June 30, 2011, up 142 percent from the quarter ending June 30, 2010, and according to Strategy Analytics that gives it an 18.5 percent share of the worldwide smartphone market.  

Nokia reported smartphone shipments slid 34 percent to 16.7 million units, for a 15.2 percent share of the global smartphone market, and in doing so, forfeited its title as world’s largest smartphone manufacturer by volume.  All toll, Nokia's global market share has fallen by more than half since 2010.

In a press release dated July 28, 2011, IDC noted that Apple’s share of the overall handset market more than doubled in the second quarter, rising to 5.6 percent from 2.6 percent a year earlier. That makes it the world’s fourth-largest manufacturer of all mobile phones after Nokia, Samsung and LG.  IDC noted.

“Apple easily posted the highest growth rate of the worldwide leaders despite the fact that its flagship iPhone 4 is now more than a year old.  The company's ability to bring its smartphone momentum to developing economies, where it’s less successful, will help dictate the company’s smartphone fortunes in future.”

Top Five Mobile Phone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q2 2011 (Units in Millions) 

Vendor	2Q11 Unit Shipments		2Q11 Market Share		2Q10 Unit Shipments		2Q10 Market Share		Year-Over-Year Change
Nokia	88.5	24.2%		111.1		33.8%		-20.3%
Samsung	70.2	19.2%		63.8		19.4%		10.0%
LG Electronics	24.8	6.8%		30.6		9.3%		-18.9%
Apple	20.3	5.6%		8.4		2.6%		141.8%
ZTE	16.6	4.5%		12.2		3.7%		36.0%
Others	145	39.7%		102.3		31.2%		41.7%
Total	365.4	100.0%		328.4		100.0%		11.3%

And those fortunes look quite promising, given Apple’s achievements to date. After all, the company has managed to become the fourth-largest handset vendor in the world and its largest seller of smartphones in just four years, with essentially one phone.

In blog article dated June 30, 2011, I profiled the Nokia N9, a slick new smartphone running the MeeGo OS.  However, it now looks like maybe it will be running the Windows Phone 7 OS.  Anyway, it's a very cool looking phone that comes in bright pastel colors and crammed with great features.

Below is a YouTube video that I ran across featuring what appears to be Nokia's Windows Phone 7 smartphone concept: 

 

Notice the color and shape similarities between the supposed Nokia Windows Phone 7 (above) and the Nokia N7 (below):

Courtesy of an article dated August 9, 2011 appearing in All Things Digital and an article dated July 29, 2011 appearing in All Things Digital and an article dated February 11, 2011 appearing in All Things Digital

 

Comments

[Tommy]

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