Once upon a time, when the CEO of Nokia was Finnish and the N95 had yet to hit the market, the Finnish firm quipped that they’ve got millions of customers around the world, but in the United States they only had four. They of course were referring to the operators, who make or break a mobile handset maker depending on whether or not they elect to stock one device versus the other. We’ve already heard about the X7, the first Symbian^3 device that was supposed to land on America’s shores via AT&T, and how it was canned. Now we’ve got news of yet another handset, the Nuron 2, which everyone else knows as the C5-03. It was supposed to come to T-Mobile USA, but … something happened and that is no longer going to be the case.
Google tried, maybe not as hard as they could have, to change the way Americans shop for mobile devices. When they launched the Nexus One they sold it unlocked, unsubsidized, and let people pick their plan separately. That’s exactly how things work in Europe and Asia, so what gives when it comes to FreedomLand? With Apple launching a new device every year, on the clock, and various handset makers pumping out Android handsets at what feels like one model per quarter, why does the concept of a 2 year contract persist?
Nokia isn’t going to get anywhere in America if they don’t court the big four. No matter how good their products are; but let’s face it, the C5-03 ran Symbian^1, so it was outdated before it even started shipping. With Canadian born Stephen Elop now in charge it’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, changes over the next few months. He’s been head of Nokia for nearly half a year now and has only managed to cut jobs.
[Via: PocketNow]