Thursday, 28 June 2012

DOHA: Once the world's largest handset producer Nokia is currently passing through a challenging phase, but the company is using this pressure to bring a major shift in its organizational structure.

Nokia says it is in the process of 'writing a new chapter' in the history of mobile phone. Those who think Nokia is over is a poor student of history, a senior official of Nokia told The Peninsula recently.

"I agree that we are going through a challenging transition, but what I really want to stress is the marathon and not the SPRINT. It is the early days (of the new phase). So those who believe that its over is a poor student of history, said Tom Farrell, Vice-President of Nokia, Middle East. 

Of late, Nokia has  launched  Asha, Lumia Series and its last version of Symbian line smartphone 808    which have been able to  generate enough heat, but the Company is banking more on its flagship Lumia with Windows-8, which will have Arabic language as a special feature for Qatar and other GCC countries.

However, the news agencies reported that the share prices of Nokia dived to a 16-year low on Monday (June 25) after Microsoft's announcement that its Windows 8 upgrade would not work on Nokia's flagship smart-phone, the Lumia 900 model.

Its Asha Series is everybody's smart-phone. These are budget-phones, available in the price range of QR300-400, that come with touch-screen facilities, launched aiming to connect 'the Billion' with internet. 

According to a recent market survey, Nokia's current eight percent market share in smart-phones, that was 29 percent just over a year ago, will fall to three percent by year-end. Nokia's smart-phone unit will not return to profits and while the industry grows by over 50 percent this year, and its smart-phone unit revenues are anticipated to cut by almost half.

Asked to comment about its current market-share in the smart-phone segment, Tom said: "We don't share exact market share. We just let the external analysts to calculate it, but I can tell you the total number of units sold globally (which he didn't tell)." "You might be reading reports about our business in the US and Europe but we are still very strong in the Middle East. Six out of 10 people still carry a Nokia handset", he added. 

Nokia with its tagline 'Connecting People' announced its new strategy in February 2011 to come to a new platform. Since then the company has taken some hard decisions such as reducing expenses, headcounts and factories as part of a strategy to re-divert more investment to areas which will bring back its growth rate.

The company has launched its Asha series (the budget smart-phone) to connect the Billion people and is very optimistic about the upcoming  Lumia with Windows-8.

"Nokia and its fundamental partner Microsoft are super excited about the upcoming Lumia. The big difference between the Lumia and the existing smart-phones is that our phone will be with Windows-8, multi-screen with same UI in Smart-phones, Tablets, PCs, Slate, HBox and others", Tom said.

Until the past few years, Nokia was twice as big as Apple in smart-phones, and three times as big as Samsung. But now Apple and Anroid have captured its high-end mobile segment, and worse, the cheap Chinese handsets are dominating its low-end range market. So the question is where does Nokia stand?

When asked how does Nokia plan to address these challenges, he said: "This is a great question, but we're still in both. In Q1, we sold over two million Lumia units which is double than what we sold previously which is evident about our growth pattern. Apart from the Lumia, Nokia's Asha Series has received tremendous response in the Middle East and other Asian markets."

He said that the essence of Nokia's strategy lies in the challenges. When a big company moves into a new strategic path, it takes time. But we are absolutely convinced that we are going to re-gain our market share. "The first wave started in 1998-99 where we're the leader, and the second wave has just started. It will round for next 5-10 years. Nokia will again be a game changer and write a new chapter", said the apparently relaxed Vice-President.

© The Peninsula 2012