Kill Windows Phone to kill Nokia

Earlier today I wrote about a leaked image of an as yet to be announced Windows Phone from Samsung called the Mandel. Think of it like the South Korean version of the Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T. As I was wrapping that piece up, something clicked in my head regarding the state of Nokia and the Windows Phone ecosystem. Nokia bet the farm on Windows Phone and have publicly stated that there isn’t a “Plan B”. If you’re one of Nokia’s competitors, such as Samsung, then you know that killing Windows Phone would be the easiest way to kill Nokia. And how do you kill Windows Phone? By not supporting it. That Mandel smartphone, it looked pretty done to me, so why wasn’t it released? Does AT&T honestly feel that their current lineup of just 5 Windows Phones compares favorably to their selection of a whopping 21 Android smartphones?

ZTE supports Windows Phone with the Tania and the Orbit, and Huawei has said that they’ll jump on Microsoft’s bandwagon once the next version of the OS, codenamed Apollo, comes out, but don’t expect either of those two companies to sell Windows Phones in any large numbers. By increasing support for Google’s mobile OS, Android, the mobile industry industry is killing Nokia’s chance of success. And as for feature phones, that product category isn’t going to exist in half a decade. You can already buy an Android smartphone for less than $100 in several parts of the world. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the first $50 Android handset come out by the end of next year.

The point I’m trying to get across is that Stephen Elop, Nokia’s CEO, goes on and on about building a “third ecosystem”, which is just another way of saying “saving Nokia”. Why then would HTC, Samsung, Huawei, ZTE, Acer, Lenovo, LG, and all the other players out there, want to help build an ecosystem that would strengthen a major competitor?

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

Babbeloo

Apple has only one carier of its iOS, called i-phone. It is not about other handsetmakers to support WP whether it will succed. It is about the qualities of WP and its promotion. If this is done right, in a unique, stylish and trendy kind of way (like ip-phone marketing) then Nokia will deliver great hardware to match with it.
Lucas

because
a 3rd eco system is required so that the handset manufactures can compete. Without
a 3rd platform there is only Android (as apple does not allow their OS on none
apple phones) this means that Android has all the manufactures by the short and
curlies which would drive down further their margins. Nobody wants to release a
phone that is not going to bring a return on investment hence why they are all
waiting on windows phone 8. Nokia had to release something that could start the
ball rolling for their recovery otherwise they would have simply waited which
was not an option.
Anonymous

Occam’s razor, man. Windows Phone hasn’t been as good as the free competitor. Nokia also got a “special” relationship with Microsoft that other companies didn’t get even though they supported WP from the beginning. Of course, once Google starts using Motorola in a bigger way, you have to wonder if Windows Phone will become more attractive.
Gregory C Newman

from the very beginning I have believed that Mr Elop should have Nokia make Windows smart phones and an at least one Android smart phone for the Multitude of Andriod fans out there.. Nokia makes Cell phones such as Feature Phones and Symbian, and Meego and Microsoft Windows smart phones so for them to make one Andriod smart phone is no big deal. Nokia can kick the ASS out every other smart phone company out there that is selling Android smart buy putting a dual CPU chpset, and a high def screen and NFC and a 12 mega pixel camera inside the stock case of a Nokia Lumia 900 and then load it up with Andriod ICE CREAM SANDWICH. A huge body of Andriod smart Phone fans like the Nokia Lumia 900 case style and want Android in it. Nokia is sooner later going to retire the Lumia 900 smart phone case style anyway Nokia might as well upgrade it’s internal electronics and other components so run Windows Phone 8
and Run Andriod. Folks Believe me when I tell you Nokia will sell enough Android Lumia 900′s
to very very seriously hurt the Sales of the Rival smart phone com ponies that are competing
against it. a Nokia Andriod Lumia 900 is a nightmare to Nokia’s rivals. they cannot beat it!
Folks the bottom line is microsoft will loan Nokia the Billions of dollars it takes to keep them afloat or if Unnecessary buy Nokia’s smart phone division lot stock and barrel and sell it off at a latter time. Nokia is going to survive.
Gregory C Newman

from the very beginning I have believed that Mr Elop should have Nokia make Windows smart phones and an at least one Android smart phone for the Multitude of Andriod fans out there.. Nokia makes Cell phones such as Feature Phones and Symbian, and Meego and Microsoft Windows smart phones so for them to make one Andriod smart phone is no big deal. Nokia can kick the ASS out every other smart phone company out there that is selling Android smart buy putting a dual CPU chpset, and a high def screen and NFC and a 12 mega pixel camera inside the stock case of a Nokia Lumia 900 and then load it up with Andriod ICE CREAM SANDWICH. A huge body of Andriod smart Phone fans like the Nokia Lumia 900 case style and want Android in it. Nokia is sooner later going to retire the Lumia 900 smart phone case style anyway Nokia might as well upgrade it’s internal electronics and other components so run Windows Phone 8
and Run Andriod. Folks Believe me when I tell you Nokia will sell enough Android Lumia 900′s
to very very seriously hurt the Sales of the Rival smart phone com ponies that are competing
against it. a Nokia Andriod Lumia 900 is a nightmare to Nokia’s rivals. they cannot beat it!
Folks the bottom line is microsoft will loan Nokia the Billions of dollars it takes to keep them afloat or if Unnecessary buy Nokia’s smart phone division lot stock and barrel and sell it off at a latter time. Nokia is going to survive.
Scott Lewis

I can say that I was skeptical of the Windows phone until I saw one last week. It was fantastic! The screen was crystal clear and it was blazing fast! I think that if it is an awesome phone that does what the consumer wants…it will succeed.
- Anonymous
  
  Just what does the Windows OS have to do with the screen being “crystal”? the only original idea of it is writing SOME things really BIG an some not SO big. its simply annoying, and not even consistant within the system, if that ever could ever be a bad thing in the context…
http://www.facebook.com/people/Gregory-Newman/100001803717276 Gregory Newman

Without doubt the Author is correct in that other Smart Phone manufactures are wary of Nokia as a competitor. but I don’t agree they are plotting against it. I think that the reasons Nokia is having problems are 1=Windows phone 7 is a new and developing OS. 2= Microsoft never educated the Public properly about the How and why of the design of the Metro tiles interface which a very radical design compared to what is on other smart phones screens. if the Public was better educated about the Metro interface they would accept it or at least know why it looks the way it does which is simple Metro tiles are big and blocky so that People can see and read the information that is contained inside a metro tile.
Bigloser99

You have to give people a reason to switch at this point since most people already have a smartphone. I would cut the nokia lumia 710 price to $299 and market it on tmobile $30 prepaid plan. You can walk into walmart target best buy and buy an andriod phone for under $100 on prepaid. Windows phone need that type of option.
BeefyDragon

Actually, I disagree. If you are run an aggressive business, you would do anything to wipe out your competitor by offering the same or better hardware. Samsung is an OEM on hardware, not software. Microsoft is determined to have Windows Phone in the next generation (Apollo) comes hell high water. So if they give up on this release, this means Nokia will take a bigger chunk in phone sales. To force a competitor, you have to starve them, which means even if you don’t any money, you will also make sure the others don’t make money as well. In such a vulnerable situation, I think Samsung is doing Nokia a favor. Last but not least, this is one less hardware they have to support, but they still can make money by supplying AMOLED screens to Nokia to make a profit.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Doug-Wallace/699980324 Doug Wallace

Carriers want 3 ecosystems. And Apple owns the market with 1 phone. Microsoft / Nokia can go it alone. And they should.
Anonymous

More like most people not giving a flying if Microsoft dies by ignoring Nokia. After all, despite a lot of strange design and software choices by Nokia before the were engulfed by Microsoft, they did pretty good all the way, even with symbian that was just as incompatible with anything else.
Anonymous

Windows 8 on Nokia is going to be a success. It just makes too much sense… IT depts hate iPhone, they merely tolerate them. Apple can’t and won’t produce an enterprise grade OS for a phone. And Android is a mess. Nokia delivers Windows 8 successful on phones and tablets, and they will automatically get many business customers.
- Jon
  
  Love your assertion “IT depts hate iPhone”. I work for a large Oil corporation, and we’d love to have only iPhones – they’re simply no hassle
- Anonymous
  
  But of course they do, couse the lack of anything Microsoft (iow constantly failing softyware) in the corporate structure makes the “it” crowd in it constantly less relevant.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/F6QPDNOHZ7IKT6W7LZ55RDWJIQ Mike
  
  Android is a mess? If you mean it offers a lot of choices for the consumer, I suppose that is the mess. The reason IT departments are reluctant to adopt iPhone resides in the single source, high cost nature of Apple products. Apple still only owns 5% of the global computer market because of the same reason. IT departments do not want to be locked into a single brand of product and have tight budgets to manage. They are rewarded when they can provide flexible, cost effective solutions that integrate nicely into their infrastructure.
  
  Windows has been failing in the mobile space because they have been slow to deliver a viable product. This gives people the perception that the product they are producing is behind the other platforms. Your average consumer hears Android and iPhone all the time but Windows resides on their computer. Microsoft would have been smart to call the platform something different and launch it as a new product.
Shasoc79

I think Nokia did a BIG mistake by going with WP. They should have gone with Android instead. Nokia had a very strong brand and with Android’s flexibility in terms of hardware, Nokia could have come up with a great phone. A good product and its strong brand would have been enough to differentiate it from the rest. Sure WP is different but no one really likes it. Besides failure of WP is going to hurt Nokia more than MS itself as Nokia has no other option now. In fact I am not sure if many at Nokia were in favor of going with WP. The way I see it is Elop, an ex-MS employee, chose WP over Android. So his choice was intended to benefit MS more than Nokia.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YXODEER4KSOY7UQXLQFT3OOCVE kojis
  
  Nokia Lumia 900 is flying off the shelf faster than they expected. Once you use Windows Phone 7.5 you will not talk high about Android. WP and Nokia are here to stay whether you like it or not.
Anonymous

Gee, if Michael said it its true. I made five thousand billions last week simply from clicking the link on the right!
Anonymous

Gee, if Michael said it its true. I made five thousand billions last week simply from clicking the link on the right!
Anonymous

Gee, if Michael said it its true. I made five thousand billions last week simply from clicking the link on the right!
Anonymous

Gee, if Michael said it its true. I made five thousand billions last week simply from clicking the link on the right!
Anonymous

Gee, if Michael said it its true. I made five thousand billions last week simply from clicking the link on the right!
Anonymous

Gee, if Michael said it its true. I made five thousand billions last week simply from clicking the link on the right!
Anonymous

Gee, if Michael said it its true. I made five thousand billions last week simply from clicking the link on the right!
WP

I’m a windows phone user and I’m freaking telling you it’s unsuccessful just because of the fact it’s made by microsoft. It is honestly a great mobile OS and if people kept an open mind and used one, most would like it. The name “windows phone” brings back vista for a lot of people and just the name voids them off.
Anonymous

as Jamie explained I am inspired that someone able to earn $8531 in 4 weeks on the computer. did you see this page ==???===>>> earnusdathome.weebly.com