February 11 2011, 3:09 PM
Well, well, well... The completely expected has happened. The biggest cell phone manufacturer in the world has officially teamed up with the biggest name in PC software. Nokia has announced that they will be using Windows Phone 7 as their go to OS, at least in the realm of smartphones. And it isn't just a regular OEM situation, no, Nokia and Microsoft are wording this as a strategic partnership. An exchange of ideas, technology, and engineering. Let's backtrack for a second:
Nokia has been the largest manufacturer of mobile phones in the world for a while now. This also includes smart phones (though this story changes depending on who performed the survey). Despite this fact they have struggled in the North American market, especially in recent years, they have more or less been top dog in the rest of world. Nokia handsets have had trouble being picked up to be subsidized by North American carriers, which has led to them not having the same name value here as they do elsewhere.
On top of that, Nokia has been stubbornly refusing to abandon the Symbian operating system that it has been using for over a decade. Sure, many improvements and innovations had been made to Symbian during that time, but it is difficult to maintain an OS for such a lengthy period. While it can certainly get the job done, and it does still have an avid user base, Symbian simply looks old when compared to newer operating systems like iOS or Android. This perception of Nokia living in the past has hurt them in the North American market.
Nokia has tried to innovate and bring a new OS to the game. This started with Maemo, which then turned into Meego after a partnership with Intel. However, during that time, only a single Maemo handset was released (the n900) and we have yet to see one running Meego. This struggle to bring something new to the market has hurt their public image, and cost them a fortune in R&D, with almost nothing to show for the cost.
The flip side to this has been that Nokia makes arguably the nicest, best designed, and feature rich handsets. They are not generally super specced out like the competition, but they are considered top of the line build wise. This is evidenced by the fact that despite the fact that technically more powerful handsets have been available, markets outside of North America have still embraced the Nokia brand. Things like stellar sound, call quality and unparalleled camera technology have proven that Nokia has the know how and engineering expertise to make a top of the line handset, even with lower grade internals.
So Nokia had the hardware to stay competitive, but simply lacked the software.
This brings us to Microsoft. While they were never quite dominant in the mobile world, they spent several years as a competitive option along with RIM (and their Blackberry series) and Palm. Then came the iPhone. Suddenly, Windows Mobile looked old, out of place, cumbersome, and decidedly unsexy. Microsoft went from having a decent market share, to having a mobile OS that people wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. The coming of Android didn't help matters any, as that quickly jumped into the position of #1 contender. Palm went on to drop their Palm OS and develop the much sexier WebOS, while Blackberry focussed on becoming the dominant entity in the enterprise world. Microsoft found their product without a niche, and not even considered as a viable alternative.
They tried patching it to increase performance, but the damage was largely done. Microsoft had publicly said that they were working on their next mobile OS, but it was taking them too long to chug it out. Their latest versions of Windows Mobile fell flat, as people didn't want to embrace a dying platform. Their pathetic market share got even worse, and this time there simply wasn't any point in trying to keep going with a platform nobody wanted.
With that in mind, Microsoft hedged their bets with the next OS. After some delays and awkward naming issues, they finally unveiled the new operating system in early 2010, with a release scheduled for October. It was a pretty radical departure from the old Windows Mobile. While not everyone's cup of tea, it was clearly attempting to be more catchy, eye pleasing, and sexy than the Windows 95 stylings of Windows Mobile. Microsoft offered some interesting UI innovations, attempted to incorporate social media right into the device, and brought along connectivity to other Microsoft brands like Hotmail, Office, and Xbox.
The problem is that it took a little too long to get out the door. Apple has positioned it's iPhone as the gadget everyone should want, and Android has gone from the somewhat geeky challenger, to a sexy and powerful beast all it's own. Windows Phone 7 had an uphill battle against an already established market share, and also struggled due to both of these platforms having had more time to mature and grow. Because of that, some of the inadequacies of Windows Phone 7 were very apparent. No copy and paste, no multitasking, no wifi hotspots, etc... It was hard to deny that Windows Phone 7 was unique and had potential, but it's been equally hard to convince the public to buy a product that is lacking features when compared to the competition.
Because of this, manufacturers have been somewhat hesitant to jump on board. While WP7 launched with a decent array of handsets, new offerings since November have been largely non-existent. Big manufacturers like HTC and Samsung seem to be betting on Android instead of WP7, and have announced many new Android devices for 2011. Talk of new Windows Phone 7 handsets has been nothing more than whispers and silence.
Microsoft has a sharp OS with tons of potential, but has struggled to get the hardware manufacturers interested, which has in turn made it difficult for the public to get interested. Yes, the OS is raw when compared to the competition, but the competition were equally raw when they first came out.
So you had Nokia, a company with stellar hardware but sub par software, that had just done an internal shakeup and brought aboard a new CEO. A CEO that was coming from... Microsoft. And Microsoft, a company with a brand new mobile OS, but having trouble making any traction with it due to some reluctance from the hardware manufacturers. What to do, what to do...
Now, there are actually quite a few people that wanted Nokia to adopt Android as their new smartphone OS. On the surface, it's hard to argue against it. A top of the line handset paired with an OS that has really come into its over the past year. It should work. That being said, I'm glad they didn't go that route. Android already has a series of manufacturers like HTC, Motorola and Samsung that have come out as producing top of the line, high end Android smartphones. While Nokia definitely could have contributed to that, I think they would have been a little lost in the shuffle. There would have been little unique about their offerings. Another high end Android phone in a group of high end Android phones.
The partnership with Microsoft goes a step beyond that. Nokia has the opportunity to be the provider of the best WP7 handsets. They have the opportunity to establish themselves as the premium, cream of the crop, top of the line, super duper fantastico maker of Windows Phone 7 devices. Plus, instead of just signing on to use the OS, the two companies have forged a strategic alliance. Nokia has some very interesting technologies and know ho that they can bring to the table, as well as a customer base that stretches the world. Microsoft has in turn given Nokia far more freedom with WP7 than they have with other handset makers. These two companies plan to work together very closely to make top of the line handsets.
And this is what benefits us, the consumers, most of all. This isn't something that is going to happen overnight, but it is something that is going to have an impact in the long haul. Windows Phone 7 is still rough around the edges, and need time to mature. It now has that time, and also has the engineering know how of Nokia to help it out. This means that in the future we may just have another serious contender in the smartphone world. A lot will depend on Microsoft getting serious about WP7 and implementing some key features. Options create competition. Competition, for consumers, is good.
To put it simply, this idea might not pan out. It might sink. But I think that this partnership is the best thing for both companies. It just remains to be seen whether or not they can leverage it.
No comments:
Post a Comment