Vipul Mehrotra, who heads Nokia India’s smart devices division talks about his company’s plans with the windows phone operating system
 
A close look at Nokia’s releases in recent months indicates that the company is focusing on launching higher-resolution cameras in its Symbian phones, and better gaming or music app in its Window Phone 7-based Lumia phones. Is that so?

I don’t subscribe to that view. Even in the Lumia range that includes Lumia 800, 710 and 610, much attention has been paid to delivering a superior imaging system. So we have got imaging, location services and entertainment bundled in the Lumia range, apart from social and gaming experiences. On the other hand, Symbian OS is not new generation and we plan to phase it out over time.

How has the response to the highly anticipated and premium product, the 41 mega pixel-carrying Nokia PureView 808 handset, been?

I can’t give you any sales numbers as of now, but what I can share is that it’s creating lot of buzz on the blogosphere and social media platforms. Many enthusiasts are buying this phone and posting pictures taken from a PureView camera which has a high-quality Carl Zeiss lens.

In recent months, on one hand while you launched a Symbian OS-based feature phone (the Asha), you also launched a Windows-powered phone. Then you created a separate category called PureView on the Symbian Belle OS. Don’t these cross-category launches cannibalise each other’s sales?

It’s not the game of one operating system harming another. Why? It’s the truly differentiated experience you give to the consumers that matter. PureView has a role to play as the flagship imaging device with a 41 MP camera, while Lumias are our smartphones. Each category has its own weight.

How has slowdown been affecting sales of Nokia India in recent times?

I think the introduction of new devices, new experiences and giving existing consumers upgrades in the form of some great software apps, have only taken us higher.

In the past, we would generally have advertisement and marketing initiatives based on new handset models. Now we see that focus of the ATL campaigns are more on OS platforms. Is that correct?

To an extent, I would again differ in opinion. At the highest level, say the premium category, the focus of marketing is still on the experience delivery. But when it comes to communicating to the market about new product launches based on a particular OS, then we get to see more talk about that OS.
 
And how about the future of Lumia and Symbian phones?

We announced in February last year that going forward, the Lumia platform will be our flagship smartphone range. That’s my answer still. Within 6 months of our announcement then, we had two Lumia devices in the market. We’ve expanded the portfolio to four now. Three of them are already in India, we will launch the fourth one soon too. We know that it’s a winning strategy for us. The Microsoft Marketplace app store saw a 1,000% increase in activity y-o-y during the last quarter – that shows the confidence of app community and consumers in our smartphone range.

Going forward, how will Nokia work towards building value of the brand as a handset maker?

A lot of competition is happening in apps. But, we have started to focus on the experience of our users. This differentiated app-ecosystem will build on Nokia’s brand and sales in the Indian market. So we have a more comprehensive strategy in action, based on scale, price points, distribution and marketplace with our ecosystem partners.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013

An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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No more a wanted brand, nokia is working to charm app-loving consumers like apple and samsung are. in 2011 it couldn’t. can it this year?
 
Back in the early 2000s, Indians didn’t buy a mobile phone. They bought a Nokia. Not anymore.

Competition has chipped away at Nokia’s citadel sans remorse since the first half of the previous decade. From over 75% market share in India in 2006 and over 70% in 2007 (in terms of volume sales), Nokia’s share fell to 54.1% in 2009 (as per IDC) and to a lower 39.0% in 2011 (as per Voice & Data). 2012 has been more unforgiving. As per GfK-Nielsen data, for Q1, 2012, the Finnish giant’s share in the country fell to 36.9%. Here’s a quick check on how Nokia’s brand image has accompanied its diminishing sales in the journey downhill: six years back, in 4Ps B&M’s Most Valuable Brands ranking Nokia was the 3rd most valuable brand in the country. In 2012, it is at no. 73. A long fall you would reckon. Indeed.

So what got the better of Nokia? It is to be remembered that Nokia became a success in India not only because of its strong distribution partnerships, but investments in innovation and brand-building too. More than anything, it was the brand recall and the small surprises from Nokia that made Indian buyers happy. All this has changed over the past couple of years. Little wonder that from being the leader globally a year back by a handsome margin, Nokia has today been relegated to the #2 spot by rival Samsung (with a 23.5% share as opposed to Nokia’s 20.8%; source: IDC Worldwide mobile phone tracker).

The story of the fall of Nokia, the dramatic revival of Samsung, and the advent of Apple can be told in the same breath. Post-2009, Samsung and Apple moved on with the times. Nokia chose to run backwards. The ambush of smartphones in 2010, highlighted by launches like the 3G version of the iPhone series, and Samsung’s Android-based Galaxy range, saw the beginning of the end of Nokia’s misery drive on the outdated, bug-laden Symbian and MeeGo platforms. When 2010 ended, Nokia seemed to be headed nowhere.

Lost for words and stuck in an ecosystem marked by snowballing demands from smartphone users in the form of more user-friendly app stores and higher quality operating softwares, Nokia made a smart move early last year (February 2011) – a quick patch-up with Microsoft in its attempt to surf the smartphone tide on the Windows Phone 7 (WP7) version surfboard. It was decided that Symbian and other OS platforms would be wounded up over the course of two years as they were failing to compete with Android and iOS. It was a different shot at survival for Nokia. With the deal, it tried to revive its chances of changing a future that appeared discouraging owing to declining profits and brand value. It agreed to sell WP7 across wider price points and in more number of markets. In Q4, 2011, Nokia shipped its new smartphone innovation – the Lumia range. The company also spent over Rs.200 crore ($40 million) in marketing and advertising to create awareness about the Lumia launch (globally it spent $300 million together with AT&T and Microsoft). Posters of the smartphone flooded the Delhi Metro stations, and popular public places in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore et al. The ATL campaign, “The Amazing Everyday”, included a helicopter ride for consumers in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, an interaction with tennis star Sania Mirza at Ambience Mall in Gurgaon, a dance performance by a foreign troupe in Mumbai, a musical event in Delhi, and even toll exemptions for more than 15,000 cars at DND Freeway connecting Delhi and Noida. Even a Lumia Sky Party was organised where winners from a Facebook contest were taken for a free 45 minute ride in a Lumia branded Jet Airways plane. But the outcome was not pleasing.
 
Even until Q1, 2012, the new OS-based phone had failed to amuse buyers. Bad news. For every Lumia handset that was sold by Nokia in the past quarter, it was selling five (destined-to-be-killed) Symbian OS handsets. Nokia did succeed in creating a buzz with its Lumia 800 smartphone – but even in a market where the smartphone category has been growing at a rate of 87% y-o-y (in 2011), the new launch has failed to entertain prospective buyers. Vendors have called the Lumia range overpriced and a product that lacks innovation. Unlike the “iPhone killer” it was touted to be a few months before launch, the product has seen industry watchers complain of battery issues, software glitches and a lack of solid marketing. Translation: when everything about the Lumia – from the hardware to its advertising – is a problem, how could it improve Nokia’s brand value? As expected, it didn’t.

If 2012 is to be different, Nokia has to deal with multiple challenges. First, it has to increase meaningful advertising activity multifold and soon. No one walks into a store today to buy a Windows Phone. So Nokia has to first get consumers to believe that Nokia is good and Windows is good. Second, the company has to work out a way to get its consumers tuning-in to the Microsoft Marketplace (app and media store) that appears to have absorbed Nokia’s Ovi store for no good. Third, it has to get a good deal done with Microsoft to ensure that “property” problems are not shared. Two examples: Bing has 1.27% of the search engine market .The WP7 loaded Nokia runs Bing and not Google which controls over 97% of the Indian search market. Zune music player was a failure in India (and US). The WP7 OS has preloaded Zune player and music store.

Android and iOS handsets are bestsellers today because they do what Nokia doesn’t at present – engage users. Blame Lumia or Nokia if you will for not having spiced up its WP7 offering, but Lumia hasn’t helped Nokia’s numbers. Twelve months back (Q1, 2011; data by IDC), Nokia’s smartphone market share was 23.6% and it was the world’ no.1 smartphone seller (far ahead of Apple, RIM and Samsung which had shares of 18.3%, 13.6% and 11.3% respectively). This year (Q1, 2012), Nokia’s share in this segment has fallen hard and fast to 8.2%, while that of Samsung (the new #1) has increased to 29.1% and Apple (#2) to 24.2%. Lumia hasn’t been the magic potion it was believed. It hasn’t done much good to Nokia’s brand value either.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013

An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned Links

SC slams AICTE's illicit control on MBA courses
MBA, MCA courses no longer under AICTE
2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail

IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

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