₦airaland Forum

Good day house.

I was just reminiscing with some guys the other day about the early 2000s and 2010s in Nigeria. Who remembers when holding a Nokia N-series, an E71, or a BlackBerry Bold 2 meant you had officially "arrived"? If you didn't have your BB PIN on your BBM status, you weren't popping.

Today, both brands are basically shadows of their former selves. We all know Apple and Samsung took over, but what exactly made these two giants collapse so fast? Let’s look at the real gist.

1. The Nokia Hubris: "Nobody can touch us"
Nokia didn’t just make phones; in Nigeria, Nokia was the phone. But their biggest problem was pride. When Apple dropped the first iPhone in 2007, Nokia executives literally laughed at it. They thought people would never buy a phone without a physical keypad and that it was too fragile.

Instead of jumping on the Android train early like Samsung did, Nokia stubbornly stuck to their Symbian OS. Symbian was okay for the 3310 days, but for the smartphone era, it was clunky and difficult for app developers to build on. By the time they realized their mistake, they made a desperate deal with Microsoft to use Windows Phone OS, which was another disaster because nobody wanted to build apps for Windows phones.

“Nokia overestimated the strength of its brand and underestimated how quickly the smartphone market would shift to software and app ecosystems.” - Harvard Business Review: Why Nokia Failed

2. BlackBerry's Stubbornness: "It's all about the keyboard"
Research In Motion (the guys that made BlackBerry) owned the corporate world and the youth market. But they made two fatal errors:

First, they believed people only wanted phones for emails and pinging. They completely missed the fact that phones were becoming entertainment hubs (for YouTube, games, and browsing). When they finally tried to make a touchscreen phone (the BlackBerry Storm), it was a buggy, glitchy mess.

Second, they held onto BBM for too long. If BlackBerry had made BBM available on Android and iOS in 2010, WhatsApp might not exist today. By keeping BBM locked only to BlackBerry devices, they forced people who bought iPhones and Androids to look for an alternative. Enter WhatsApp, and the rest is history.

“BlackBerry failed to anticipate that consumers—not business executives—would drive the smartphone revolution.” - Wall Street Journal

The Bottom Line
In the tech world, if you don't adapt, you die. It doesn't matter if your battery lasts for 5 days like our old Nokia battery, or if your keypad types faster than a laptop. The market wanted touchscreens and millions of apps, and these giants refused to listen.

Nairalanders, which Nokia or BlackBerry was your favorite back in the day? Let’s hear your stories! Mine was the BB Torch and the legendary Nokia 3310.


Supporting sources:

1. Harvard Business Review: "Why Nokia Failed"
2. TIME Magazine: "The Fatal Mistake That Doomed BlackBerry"

This video is helpful too. Watch Nokia ex-CEO speak about the matter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR5a_DBYSmI?si=tpqXLr6SoFs8ywXL

Image 1: Blackberry trying to make an only-touchscreen version after realising their mess. It was still a mess. The world was not about only BBM. They even had to create an Android app later on after refusing...until Facebook (Meta now) bought WhatsApp and killed it permanently.


Image 2: Nokia collaborating with PC giant Microsoft for a Windows OS for phones in their Lumia version, which still became a flop. Developers were not interested in creating apps for Symbian OS and Windows Phones.

Nothing lasts forever.

x

Everything has its time. Android too will fade someday

U09ce:
Everything has its time. Android too will fade someday

I do not think so, though. Google invests heavily in R and D and consumer needs more than what their executives want.

That being said.

One of the Laws of Nature simply caught on them.

"There's time for everything"

Even if they'd evolve, it doesn't mean that they won't still crash out in the Tech market.

Everything is based on Times & Seasons, not disregarding the place of self-improvement.

Knowledge doesn't equate to insight. BB lost out because of the BBN PIN issue. No WhatsApp and peiple wanted to connect via WhatsApp and other sim card based networking apps unlike BB that was PIN based.

U09ce:
Everything has its time. Android too will fade someday

You'll make it fade i guess?

Blackberry was known for its security, that's why US government officials used it. Till they went the Canadian way of awwwwwnnn


https://www.tiktok.com/video/7487989294838058286

Nokia decided to adapt and instead of adopting android, they still made the biggest mistake of adopting windows operating system😭😭😭💔, that was the final nail on their coffin 💔💔💔

I think the reason why android has lived so long is because of its wider screen and on screen keypad options which is different.
All thanks to the battery modeling

Symbian phones was the peak of mobile phones

I read somewhere that iOS (apple) bought blackberry and killed it because BB was way ahead of iPhone. Don't know how true is that, but I know BB was so ahead of iPhone. If BB was still functioning today, I don't think Apple iPhone will have the chance.
I bought the 17pro max recently, I don't see anything that interesting in it except for the usual camera. Will probably stick to my 24ultra.

Nokia and Blackberry were not made to last forever.

Everyone phone has its own time.

Nokia gat android smartphone with windows layer , but too cost den!
Most Nigerians likes cheaper fone

Android have many updates everytime, but Nokia was stucked on just simbian without any form of update, they just wanted to force consumers to accept whatever they were willing to offer, even when it was trash 😏

Elope was the Nokia CEO from Microsoft. He carried out the undertaking of Nokia.

Lol, all these one na long story. Blackberry and nokia were made obsolete cause they couldn't be used to monitor the world. Just remove the battery everything becomes dead, unlike android and mordern smartphones. Yes, your device is recording you while think it's off. Anyway sha.

Kai I remember those Nokia Symbian phones that year their games and how flexible and design there phones was then...I still love Symbian phones 📱

My nokia (N97) was stolen from my back pocket when I was trying to assist an accident victim. I miss that phone.

Android and ease of using touchscreen killed blackberry.

Nokia is back in the market just that people have already tried other brands and are enjoying them

Mine was the Blackberry passport and Blackberry Key 2 which i used last, before I ported to Samsung Galaxy S series

chatinent:
I do not think so, though. Google invests heavily in R and D and consumer needs more than what their executives want.

the only mistake makes by blackberry then is by selling bbm pin to android and which really cost them

Android system made Nokia crashed. From Symbian, Nokia ventured in Windows system and that was the downfall. As for Blackberry, Whatsapp did that

I miss my blackberry bold 3 and curve 4

Not forgetting Nokia

My first brand new blackberry which was a curve 4 lasted only 2 weeks before it was stolen by pick pockets in commercial bus. I stubbornly bought another blackberry a used bold 4 powered by Vodafone but that one was hanging whenever I am out of data and battery runs down in a jiffy l.

The moment I understood what mobile phone was, I wanted the Nokia 9000.
But no job, no money.
By the time i had my first job, i saved for it and bought it from ebay.
But by then, it was already old.
So I sold it off again.
I was sad and confused as I couldn't picture any other phone I could ever like.
A colleague told me to try Sony Ericsson P910i since I liked computer type of phones.
And I gave it shot.
Was very satisfied with it.
After 2 years, I went for an XDA Trion from O2.Uk.
And then moved on to Nokia E63.
I didn't like that Nokia E63.
Technologically, it was the most advanced of all these phones.
But using the "Ghen-Ghen" factor, it was the most "UN-Ghen-ghen" phone I've ever seen.
Times were tough. So I just used it like that.

The votes mehn. For God's sake.Why will you say you like symbian phone more than ios device

chatinent:
I do not think so, though. Google invests heavily in R and D and consumer needs more than what their executives want.

No business is 100% fail-proof.

So funny remembering these phones

But BlackBerry's reign was way too short. I'm not sure they reign actively for 10 yrs

Mirasteel:
Nokia and Blackberry were not made to last forever.

Everyone phone has its own time.

Giftedhand47:
The votes mehn. For God's sake.Why will you say you like symbian phone more than ios device

Tastes and preferences are not up for debate.