My friends..do you remember Nokia ?

 

 

My First Nokia Mobile Phone

 

 

 

Do you remember Nokia? Yes the mobile phone that was used by almost everyone five years ago. To most of us who were born in the 1980s, Nokia was our first mobile phone.  Nokia was dominating the market, everyone had Nokia. Nokia was very successful from 1998 up until 2008 when Blackberry and the iphone started to dominate the market and attract not only businessmen but also teenagers. Nokia lost a lot of its market share due to its weak forecasting of changing consumer tastes and preferences and its lack of sufficient research and development as well as its inability to compete with its competitors especially when it comes to adding innovative features and applications that are smarter and effective. Nokia lost its target market from all different ages whether it is the high school student or the university student or even the sophisticated business professional. It is sad to see that 5 years ago all my friends had a Nokia mobile phone and currently none of my friends have this mobile phone anymore even though it is still being sold in all our local mobile shops.

 

                We studied in our operations management class about Product Life Cycle that states that product goes through 4 stages: Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Decline. Nokia is definitely now in the decline stage for many reasons. The first reason is Nokia’s poor product design which did not attract consumers  because they looked very dull and stale unlike the Blackberry and the iphone.  The second reason why Nokia reached its decline stage is that they were always one step behind their competitors mainly Blackberry and iphone especially when it comes to adding innovative features such as 3G and free chatting and social media applications such as Facebook and Twitter. A third reason why Nokia reached its decline stage is its strong dependence on its brand equity. Its dependence and reliance on its brand equity for a long time led the company to focus less on research and development and less monitoring of all existing and potential competitors. A fourth reason why Nokia reached its decline stage is the changing technological environment. Nokia was very famous for its simplicity however people have changed because they started demanding smarter phones rather than simple phones. They started demanding phones with many smart applications rather than few simple applications. Therefore, the change in the taste and preferences of the consumer led Nokia to the decline stage as consumer demand decreased significantly in the past couple of years.

My question is what should Nokia do now to restore its glory and fame? Can it regain its market leadership one more time and become the number one mobile phone by defeating Blackberry and i-phone or is it too late?

8 thoughts on “My friends..do you remember Nokia ?

  1. Very interesting article! This article shows how Research and Development is very important no matter how big you are. I believe that Nokia needs to focus on Research and Development their products have to meet the consumer’s demand today.I remember when Nokia introduced the first phone without the Ariel ( 3210 ) it was something new back then, they should’ve kept developing their products since then. Nokia can change its position as we learned in our previous studies about the (BCG – growth –share matrix) a company can move from the decline stage ( dogs ) to a ( star ) by rebranding and establishing a new image like Burberry when it repositioned itself a couple of years back.

  2. Your article caught my attention as it reminds me of the good old days and unforgettable Nokia phones experience. Nokia already started a new marketing campaign and strategy rejuvenation approach to reposition their brand name as the world’s number one. They teamed up with Microsoft to launch new Windows mobile phones in order to compete directly with iOS and Android. Recently they unveiled “Nokia 808 PureView” which features Nokia’s PureView technology and an unbelievable 41 megapixel sensor that none of the existing phones in the market can beat that as it is the highest resolution sensor in a cameraphone at the time of its launch. The new Nokia 808 PureView won the award for “Best New Mobile Handset, Device or Tablet” at Mobile world Congress 2012, and the award for “Best Imaging Innovation for 2012” from the Technical Image Press Association. I think this is a good start for Nokia to keep innovating and bringing on new technologies and products that satisfy users and meet their continuous changing demand. By doing so, Nokia will proof that is not too late for them and they are ready for another round to regain their market leadership and power once again.

  3. I defiantly agree with you that Nokia already start there decline in their product life cycle, since they start to lose their customer because there customer now a day’s become addicted to smart phones I phone , BB , and Samsung . the most important point in marketing is not to having a new customer but how to keep these customer loyal to your product, when any product win their customer loyalty, the customer will not shift again to another product, so I can see apple and other smart phone win the marker, I can see NOKIA now in the critical path and it is very hard to them to go back ward and win the market again.

  4. Interesting blog! Nokia just disappeared, didn’t it?! I remember when I had my blackberry I decided to get rid of my Nokia the next day and I didn’t even miss it! Nokia were too slow as you mentioned, their response time towards the rapid changes and different demands in the market was not quick enough to be able to maintain a continues position in the mobile phone market. From my point of view, just like Sophie every company has that key to success and regains its market position sometimes they just do not see it clearly or discover it after a long time! Nokia is well known about their quality and durable mobile phone devices and its high quality to operate without shut downs or major technical problems. I am not an expert in technology, it might be due to the simple activities Nokia mobile phones perform in comparison to iPhone or BlackBerry, yet Nokia can still consider that as an option.

    Further, Nokia might have to invest more in R&D and product design, which will help in adding new product line and variety that will help Nokia regain its strong position and be able to compete. Last but not least, despite the fact that, Samsung is a bit slow in their response too, they started to become a strong competitor in the market too and Nokia should consider that and move fast!

  5. What a blast from the past! Until recently, Nokia definitely dominated the mobile phone market, especially in the east. Until 2006, over half the smartphones sold globally were manufactured by Nokia. When Apple, Google and Research in Motion (the manufacturer of Blackberry phones) launched smartphones in the market, Nokia too responded with its own line of new smartphones but not quickly enough. Even though Nokia was responsible for launching the first smartphone, its technology never matched up to the iPhone experience and lost much of its market share to Google’s Android in just four years. As I recently read in an article, the “Nokia market share is not in decline, it is in a dive”!

  6. The decline stage is a natural occurrence in any product. Nowadays, no more to hear about Nokia as you said invention feature, which is a very important factor. In my opinion, Nokia needs to do quantitative forecasting method by using survey on their products to meet consumer’s demands. Thus, Nokia can restore its glory and fame. Nokia can change their critical path and go back in the leadership market by adding unlimited innovation features and brining new technologies to be more attractive than I phone and Blackberry.

  7. I am very happy to see an article about Nokia and its future. I believe that Nokia has a competitive advantage with its latest Lumia 900 that utilizes the Windows 8 operating system. I believe that Nokia has an opportunity to regain its market leadership and effectively compete with Apple and BlackBerry. Top management needs to give a pep talk to its associates, create synergy in the company, and increase its spending on R&D and marketing.

  8. I found this article interesting simply because I come from a generation that didn’t grow up with cell phones. I believe my first cell phone was a Nokia though. There are many companies that are unable to “change with the times”. One that often comes to mind is a hardware/home remodeling store called “Handy Andy” back in the 1980’s. Had this store been able to foresee the future of big box hardware/home remodeling, like Home Depot and Lowes, they may still be around today. Although I haven’t seen anyone with a Nokia in years, I don’t believe they have completely lost their entire market. There are always going to be people who just want the basics and don’t want an iPhone or Blackberry. Unless Nokia is willing to completely redesign their phones, market them better and come up with some outstanding service plans at minimal cost compared to their competitors, don’t ever see them being on top.

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