The mobile devices industry is on the cusp of yet one more potential upset. Not too many years back, Nokia was an industry standard of what a good mobile device is all about it. At least in several parts of the world, including India.
Then someone sold them the concept of bottom of pyramid too literally. Nokia, no doubt a company that is capable of great innovations, almost completely closed its eyes on the top end of the market and focussed exclusively on making ‘cheap’ phones for the mass market. And today they realize that the sands below the feet have shifted. Instead of innovating at platform and convergence level, they probably were too focussed in cutting down the manufacturing costs to the point that they now probably compete with the cheap Chinese counterfeits. While their foray into frugal manufacturing may have succeeded, they have completely lost out innovation leadership to likes of Apple, HTC, Samsung, Motorola etc.
In fact, HTC and Samsung have managed to do exact opposite of Nokia. Few years back, they were perhaps considered as manufacturers of cheap devices, Today they are focussed on top of the line high value devices and their devices have been accepted and succeeded in the market.
The question is, what will be the new act in the play? Will Nokia continue its stodgy march towards finishing itself, or will there be a change of course. The answer perhaps lie in its history. Nokia began as a wood pulp company, dealt in rubber, made cables, tyres, etc. So there is a history of reorientation and course correction. As a company, Nokia may today be known for its mobile handsets business, but its past agility clearly shows that it has a great propensity to take bold decisions. IMHO, a healthy and refocussed Nokia will be a great thing for the consumer. Hope that happens sooner than later. I am in for my next Nokia.
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