Many attribute Nokia's decline in
recent years to its exclusive
reliance on Microsoft's Windows
Phone platform as its only outlet
into the world of smartphones.
Now one analyst argues that if
Nokia has any hope of righting the
ship, it must begin manufacturing
Android smartphones.
Pierre Ferragu of Bernstein
Research urges that Nokia must
"take the pill before one cannot
afford to do so anymore… its
exposure to the disappearing
feature phone market and the lack
of traction of Windows phones
could cost Nokia a lot of cash in
the near term, in restructuring,
marketing/distribution support,
and operational losses, which
means it could be too late to
address the problem in a couple of
years."
Nokia's partnership with Microsoft
has been anything but what either
company was hoping for, even if
recent signs are encouraging. The
Finnish phone maker and the
Windows Phone operating system
found on many of its devices are
struggling to make the smartphone
the three-horse race Elop was
talking about when unveiling the
new strategy.
Nokia continues to rely heavily on
its feature phone sales to keep
finances in check, as evidenced by
its most recent ad campaign for
the S40-powered Nokia Asha 501.
But the featurephone market, once
a pillar of Nokia's dominance, is
also starting to crumble. Even in
the conservative Western European
smartphone market, where Nokia's
total shipments have dropped by
30% year-over-year.
It's unclear what would it cost for
Nokia to dip its toe into the
Android pool, though. On one hand
Microsoft has given licenses to
Samsung, HTC and Huawei to
make WP-powered devices of their
own despite all of those also
having Android smartphones. On
the other ever since day one and
Microsoft Nokia made it clear that
their partnership is different to that
between Microsoft and the other
WP OEMs.