Some interesting news concerning Nokia and its likely future strategies regarding devices, operating systems, and markets broke over the weekend.
The website for the Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market (OHIM) has posted details of three new ’series’ trademarkets for mobile devices that may enter production soon. These would be the Cseries and Xseries of handheld devices, as well as something listed only as ‘Booklet’.
What customer segments would these new classes of devices address? Nokia already targets virtually all types of customers at present, from low-cost ‘entry’ device users to very high-end smartphone users, via three types of device: the Nseries smartphones aimed at consumers; the Eseries converged devices aimed at business users; and all those other devices that don’t fit any obvious marketing boxes. There are also other devices, such as the ultra-high priced Vertus and a small number of tablets. Perhaps the company has decided it needs to intensify its focus on particular sub-sections of this ‘other’ market?
So, Cseries could well be aimed at very low-cost consumers, with Xseries constituting the mid-range area of the market. Other observers think that Nokia is going to make a serious push into the Internet tablet and Mobile Internet Device (MID) market and that it is these devices that will bear the X-moniker. Could this be the field that Nokia plans to address through its technology partnership with Intel, announced a little while ago?
But what about ‘Booklet’? Well, rumours have been circulating for a while that Nokia is planning to get into the PC market, with a low-cost portable computer or netbook product that would compete with the mass market offerings of Lenovo, Acer, et al. Indeed, Nokia management have already let slip that they are keen to explore the opportunities in this field. But they don’t really have much expertise or knowledge in this area and the Symbian OS used on Nokia’s converged devices likely isn’t up to the job.
On top of all that, Nokia appears to be planning the launch of a service or series of solutions branded ‘Nokia Money’, which would appear to be the fruits of its investments in mobile payments company Obopay. Quite when this service will materialise and which devices will run it is a matter for yet further speculation, however.
Nokia announced its financial results for the second quarter late last week, in which it reported a small improvement in sales and device shipments, but a continued decline in profits due to falling ASPs. The company continues to perform poorly in the Americas, where even its glamorous new N97 lacks the impact of the iPhone, the Pre, and most flavours of BlackBerry. So, a fresh assault on this market with an affordable touchscreen smartphone and a concerted effort to deliver very low-cost handsets and associated services would be a must in weaker economies and help Nokia return its global market share to above 40% (currently circa 38%) and stop rivals such as Apple diluting its share of the smartphone market (currently circa 41%).
Tags: Acer, Apple, ASP, average sales price, BlackBerry, Booklet, Cseries, Eseries, Intel, Internet Tablet, iPhone, Lenovo, low-cost handset, MID, mobile computing, mobile device, mobile Internet device, mobile phone, mobile solutions, N97, netbook, Nokia, Nokia Money, Nseries, Obopay, Pre, Research In Motion, RIM, smartphone, Symbian, Xseries