Nokia's Marketshare Slips, But Will WP7 Turn It Around?
Ouch! Bad news from Nokia this week, with the company's smartphone share
falling to 26% in the latest report. That's a shocking fall. Not too
many years ago, Nokia's share overall was pushing 50%, and now, their
overall share has slipped to beneath 30%. We had all ideas that things
would be tough for Nokia in the short-term after their switch to Windows
Phone 7, but this is just brutal. That said, Nokia's Q1 earnings showed
better-than-expected profits, but again, when your marketshare slips
below 30% for the first time in a decade, that doesn't bode well for the
future...
Or does it? Nokia has a new future ahead of them, so paying too much attention to this number may not be totally wise. During the transition period, we bet the number slips even more, but the real story will be what happens after a spate of WP7 Nokia devices hit the consumer market. And despite lower numbers, Nokia still sold 24 million smartphones in the period, which is 13% more than in 2010. Overall, they sold 108.5 million devices in Q1, and while we would expect that to slip in the near term, Nokia seems sure that WP7 products will start to move out to market in 2012.
Will a major OS transition be enough to revitalize Nokia? Many people were counting Motorola's mobile division as dead a few years back, and just look at them now.
Or does it? Nokia has a new future ahead of them, so paying too much attention to this number may not be totally wise. During the transition period, we bet the number slips even more, but the real story will be what happens after a spate of WP7 Nokia devices hit the consumer market. And despite lower numbers, Nokia still sold 24 million smartphones in the period, which is 13% more than in 2010. Overall, they sold 108.5 million devices in Q1, and while we would expect that to slip in the near term, Nokia seems sure that WP7 products will start to move out to market in 2012.
Will a major OS transition be enough to revitalize Nokia? Many people were counting Motorola's mobile division as dead a few years back, and just look at them now.
