When Will Nokia Wake Up?

Kris Tuttle submits:
Back in December of 2008, we posted our conclusions on why Nokia (NOK) would yet again fail to gain any traction in the smartphone market. (See Five Reasons why the new Nokia N97 doesn’t matter.) Since then the mobile Internet has continued to be dominated by Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG) Android, and Research in Motion (RIMM). Recently we added Motorola (MOT) to our list of winners in this space because their Android-based strategy appears very solid to us. Palm (PALM) continues to be in the group but a high valuation coupled with concerns we have on long-term operating margin push it lower on our priority list. The meta issue for Nokia seems to be the fact that they see the world through their own lens of “leadership” and believe they are actually ahead of companies like Apple and Research in Motion. Obviously this isn’t a good place to start if you plan on improving. Nokia measures things like their total number of different phones and their rank as a global brand. So they can succeed on their terms and fail on ours at the same time. Recently it came to light that the Nokia “Comes With Music” promotion has garnered just over 100,000 users after nine months in the market. Given the vast resources Nokia can wield, their abject failures in new markets are simply stunning.Complete Story »


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