Nokia profits plunge

Nokia have recently announced that profits dropped by around 90% in the first three months of the year. Putting aside issues of the recession (which does seem to be hitting the mobile phone industry, contrary to one of my earlier posts) I suspect the larger issue at work is that Nokia are so reluctant to accepting they need to fundamentally change their handsets. They have been far to use to dominating the market, and esssentially pushing out what it thought consumers wanted (similar in many ways to the Media model which was forced to change with the advent of the internet, but I diverge). The 5800 was their first real attempt at recognising a changed market, one that the iPhone had successfully tapped into. 

 

It would seem that the best way for Nokia to turn around their position is to attempt more handsets like the 5800. What they got right (or at least believe they got right) was an easy to use, touchsreen device that had a good sized screen. If they take that basic model and open up their handsets so that more applications are available for them then they may be able to claw back some of their market share. I think the way to do this is not to attempt to copy the hugely successful Apple App store, but consider something much more pen along the lines of the Android software (or just go with the Android software). Nokia make great hardware, but in recent years the issue has always been the software. They are a long way ahead of Apple with what their hardware will do (except on the touchscreen front), so they really need to sort out the operating system that their phones work on, and allow people to put the applications on the phones that suit the individual.