Troubled mobile phone giant Nokia yesterday said it was confident it could reverse sagging fortunes and remain a market leader amid stiff competition from rivals such as Apple and Samsung.
Chief executive Stephen Elop said at a regional telecoms fair in Singapore that the Finnish company was making good on promises to overhaul itself. He unveiled a new high-end phone, the N9, to prove it.
“Earlier this year Nokia outlined a new course to change our direction. Just four months and ten days later, a new season is beginning at Nokia as well,” Mr Elop said at the CommunicAsia 2011 industry expo.
“We have shifted our organis-ation, we have a clear strategy and we are focused on delivering results.”
Nokia hired Mr Elop, a former Microsoft executive, last September as its market share slumped in the face of competition from Apple’s iPhone, Asian rivals led by Samsung, and Canada’s Research in Motion, maker of the Blackberry.
In February the company said it was going to adopt Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 (WP7) operating system for its future smartphones to do battle with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android software, a favourite among Asian manufacturers.
Nokia has seen its global market share dwindle after other companies came up with sleeker mobile phones offering a wide range of applications from games to business software. Nokia phones accounted for at least eight out of every 10 phones sold in Asia at one point, according to the Communic-Asia programme, but analysts said the company now faces an uphill task to stay in the lead.
Nomura Equity Research has forecast that Nokia’s share of the entire mobile phone market will decline from 25.1 per cent in the first quarter this year to 19.9 per cent in the fourth quarter.
In the smartphone sector, the decline is steeper, from 25.5 per cent in the first quarter to 13.1 per cent in the fourth quarter – which would result in Samsung ending Nokia’s 14-year streak as world top.
In addition to Samsung and Apple, Taiwan’s HTC is also starting to rival Nokia, Nomura said in a June 12 report.
“By the end of 2011, we doubt that Nokia’s market share in Western Europe, APAC (Asia Pacific) or North America will be higher than low- to mid-single digits at best.”
“This implies that Nokia has lost relevance in these markets – markets that are brand-conscious and technology-aware. Not only has Nokia’s brand value fallen, but it seems unlikely that WP7 is about to leapfrog Android or the iPhone,” it added.
According to information technology research firm IDC, the Android operating system will account for 43.8 per cent of the global smartphone market by 2015, with Windows Phone 7 taking 20.3 per cent, Apple’s iOS 16.9 per cent, Blackberry OS 13.4 per cent and Nokia’s Symbian holding a mere 0.1 per cent.
Nokia boss Elop said he was confident that the firm’s first Windows 7 model will be launched later this year “and we will ship our products in volume in 2012”.
The N9 features an “all-screen” display devoid of the “home” button present on the iPhone and other high-end devices, although it does not run on WP 7 software.
However, it has a function that allows users to link it to dedicated accessories such as a headset or speakers by simply touching the phone against them.
Delegates had mixed reactions to the Nokia chief’s upbeat statements. “Nokia will survive but probably in a different style, a different way. They will evolve,” said Marcus Tan, Asia-Pacific managing director of mobile advertising firm Smaato, who visited Nokia’s booth in CommunicAsia.
“With the influx of tablets and iPads or iPhones, I think the market will evolve and Nokia will be one of the leading players in the industry.”
But Singaporean technological blogger Lester Chan was not as optimistic. “As a phone, I would say that Samsung, definitely, Blackberry, iPhone will overtake Nokia, it’s just a matter of time,” he said. “The leadership change will happen in “two, three years’ time.”