Nokia feature phones still have profit force WP difficult to return to the position of the boss

As a company that has long won the first place in the global mobile phone market, Nokia has never left people's attention. Despite its late efforts in the field of smartphones, it held the top spot with feature phones. However, the outlook of this company is not optimistic, and the product positioning has been plagued by Nokia.

Frequently the questions always appear one after another. On March 9, Nokia submitted its 2011 financial report, showing an operating loss of US$1.4 billion, a year-on-year decrease in smartphone shipments of 25%, a year-on-year decrease in feature phone shipments of 3%, and an average selling price reduction of 11% year-on-year.

Functional phones are still profitable Although smartphones have gradually been recognized by consumers, Nokia still insists on plans to promote the feature phone lineup in 2012 because for Nokia, the sales of feature phones are still higher than that of smartphones. . It is understood that sales of Nokia smartphones currently account for less than one-third of their total sales.

According to sources, Nokia is developing a new Linux-based software platform, Meltemi, for this project as an upgrade to Symbian S40 for feature phones. The new platform will provide a more smartphone-like experience for Nokia’s feature phones.

However, in recent days, users have heard too much about Nokia's new term on feature phones. MeeGo, Anna, and Belle flashed in front of each other, but none of them seemed to be as long as Symbian. Even users almost didn't understand the difference behind these names.

However, almost all interviewees told reporters that in the feature-phone market, Nokia's status remains unshakeable, just as Apple is for high-end mobile phone users.

Lu Junkuan, senior analyst of Gartner's mobile communication business, said that the influence of white-box enterprises in the field of functional mobile phones is rapidly declining. Even if China is rapidly turning to the smart phone market, Nokia still has a market for functional mobile phones due to the reduction of competition. With room for growth, feature phones can still bring Nokia's economies of scale and operating profit.

Analyst Wang Ying, an analyst at Analysys International, said that in the next few years, Nokia's feature phones will still play an important role in Nokia's share of the global market. Because in China, India and other emerging markets, the sales of feature phones have maintained steady development. The reason Nokia can't give up a feature phone is because its channel capacity in emerging markets is not what other manufacturers have. However, in Nokia's own product line, the proportion of feature phones will gradually shrink.

Shen Zheyi, director of research at Gartner, said that Nokia needs to continue to strengthen its investment in medium- and low-end models in order to maintain market leadership and market share.

WP Becomes Counterattack In addition to restructuring the feature phone business, Nokia is planning to develop more low-cost Windows Phone (hereinafter referred to as "WP") smartphones to counterattack Android phones.

In fact, after cooperating with Microsoft, the products of cooperation between the two parties have not entered China. On March 28, the release of Nokia's WP smart phone products in China will change the current situation.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop attributed the WP "late" to the need to work with Microsoft on Chinese users in the localization of the market, APP and other adaptations, and Nokia is also doing special localization work, such as social, Communication network tools such as implantation. However, he said that in the future, the WP mobile phone will be released again, and the Chinese market will be synchronized with the global market.

Lv Junkuan believes that Nokia's long-term goal is to replace Symbian with WP, but Nokia must also expand the low-end WP to meet the needs of the Chinese market and compete with low-end Android.

Nokia wants to rely on WP to stand up, relatively speaking is not difficult. Most respondents stated that brand image, channel mastery, and carrier relations are still Nokia's key chips.

"Nokia's main target is still in emerging markets such as China and India." Analysys International analyst Wang Ying said that because in these markets, Nokia has worked hard for many years and its product reputation has made consumers happy to accept it. "Nokia's focus on the emerging markets is a wise move and there is hope for a successful turnaround."

Stephen Elop also said that after its new product line is available, there will be more cooperation opportunities with operators.

However, Nokia's hope of returning to dominance has become very slim. Wang Ying said, "I can only say that Nokia is still one of the giants in this circle, but it is difficult to return to the first position." Because it is an important factor that affects the sales volume of mobile phone products - the construction of ecological environment, it is difficult for WP to compete with the Android system in the short term.

The Chinese market has entered the replacement period and currently the biggest threat to Nokia is not Apple, but Samsung.

Data from the survey agency asymco shows that in the smartphone market, Samsung’s sales have grown steadily in 2011, and its market share has almost been interchangeable with Nokia in the past year.

However, Nokia with WP is still optimistic about analysts. Wang Ying said that from the current point of view, Nokia WP mobile phone in the overseas market performed well, is expected to have similar results in the Chinese market, can drive its overall market share upward growth.

In fact, this confidence comes from expectations of the future Chinese market.

A public relations source working for Nokia told reporters that Nokia will propose a more explicit Chinese market development plan at the March 28 launch.

In this regard, Lu Junkuan said that China is Nokia's second "home market", which is the key to reverse the current unfavorable situation. If Nokia can provide rich content and cost-effective mobile phones, there will be great opportunities for development.

As far as the Chinese market itself is concerned, 2011-2013 was the climax of its smartphone replacement. Wang Ying said that this is an opportunity for all manufacturers, so Nokia's strategy is particularly important.

Beijing is a special city for Nokia, because it is the only place in the world that has the ability to support the development and manufacturing of all mobile phones.

Stephen Elop said that it will continue to increase investment in China, but will also increase China's R & D capabilities, but also strengthen the team in China.