Nokia will be the mobile comeback kid in 2016 – wishful-thinking sources Nokia is gearing up for a bombastic return to the smartphone world in 2016, according to new whispers. The Finnish firm's Nokia Technologies division has been quietly hiring staff, and already has products under development, with an eye to reenter the market next year, we're told. The second half of 2016, not coincidentally, …
The only problem is that they were getting slaughtered in developing markets too weren't they? Having surprised everyone by how long they could keep their production costs as low as the Chinese competition, they were finally losing that battle. Having already lost at the top end. Given how cheaply reasonable Android phones can now be produced, I can't believe there's much market space for feature phones.
Also, having sold the farm to MS, they've presumably lost all their distribution networks and expertise. Which was another thing they were great at for ages. That seems like an awful lot to try and build back from scratch.
Do indeed read the Re/code blog for a more analytic view. As for the sentence "The question is, is this really a business that Nokia wants to be in? It didn't work out so well last time around." one could of course also say that the first time they tried they become market leaders.
Nokia could be the "come back kid" so easily, and without spending a penny on development:
3310 and 6310i.
There is NOTHING on the market to rival the simplicity and build quality of these handsets, therefore completely ignoring the needs of those who do not want a smartphone, but similarly do not want the buggy, flimsy & cheap crap which is the only non-smartphone option available now.
Businesses would order 6310i s by the bucket-load, and I reckon the 3310 would fly too.
I'd love Nokia to re-enter the market with an Andriod-like OS, but without the annoying bits. Top of my list would be getting rid of the "all-or-nothing" access privileges model enforced by android apps.
If they got that right, I'd consider a Nokia. Either way, increased competition in the smart phone market has to be a good thing.
Actually I think the model of success for Nokia will be a mob supporting either Android or alternative. Let the user choose the OS from a shortlist, as they prefer. Provide tools to allow data (contacts etc) to be retained between os changes (easy enough... just use google contacts in cloud I suppose).
Choice of OS would be the USP.
'Microsoft will still be able to market dumbphones based on the System 40 and System 60'
Errr... isn't System 60 (aka S60) actually Symbian, which although very long in the tooth is still a smartphone OS isn't it?
Or have I been lied to that the N95 8GB that has laboured tirelessly as a backup device for me for years was never a smartphone in the first place?
If you look at the core offering there is little difference in the functions between S60 and latest gen Smart OS's, it is just that today's standards are refined to provide productivity, intelligence and performance. Application intelligence should not be confused with "smart" in smartphone.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/smartphone
smartphone
noun
a mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, Internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded apps.
Depends on how you define a smartphone. I say the acid test is if it can multitask properly, as indeed was seen on Symbian. Embracing full Linux naturally extends that to Android. More basic designs, such as the iPhone and anything from microsoft are more like enhanced feature phones in this respect.
Like someone else said, Jolla would have to be their way forward. It may even have been the plan all along. If I were Nokia, the way I'd go about it is keep the Jolla name, fund it and make the funding conditional on Nokia having first refusal in the event they go bust or decide to sell the company.
I wouldn't even consider re-branding their mobiles as Nokia until the Windows mobile fiasco is at least a couple more years in the past.
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