Nokia: ‘Sticking Itself Out Of The Herd’

Nokia has always portrayed itself as the maker of the best-in-class mobile devices be it the N-Series range targeting multimedia enthusiasts to the E-Series which is aimed at business users. However, the story doesn’t end here. My eagerness to learn more about Nokia and their strategic ploys never fail to fascinate me. It has been a company that constantly replenishes itself with the changes in its environment.

The harsh environment encompassing Nokia has ‘Horn Locking’ opponents in the likes of the iPhone whose touch screen interface is perceived to be light years ahead of the N-Series. The iPhone has in the real sense created a disruption in the marketplace. Now, would that mean Nokia has given into the iPhone’s supremacy..No!! One must just know that the N-Series outbeats the iPhone on every flank when it boils down to the overall phone functionality. This only goes to show that Nokia as a company doesn’t rest on the laurels of the past but makes continuous strides in an effort to set new benchmarks each time the opposition closes in.


However, at this juncture in time Nokia definitely feels the need for a ‘Unique selling proposition’ that would keep it in good stead for the future. It has realized that connecting with the user in a intuitive and innovative way merely by the device is no longer the mantra to success. It has to offer something more than just taking pictures or downloading music. Here’s where it has conceived upon the thought of moving out from being a mere phone manufacturer to a provider of a host of services on its mobile phones.


Nokia’s goal is to move beyond its barriers, and the only way it could do so is by picking up a few lessons learnt from Nintendo’s Wii which completely changed the rules of the gaming industry in its own terms. While game consoles became more and more sophisticated Nintendo moved ahead by focusing on a completely novel way of interacting with games. Nokia recognized this trend and thus aims at reshaping the mobile phone market by becoming more than just a maker of mobile phones.

Keeping this example at the forefront Nokia is aiming at creating a renewed focus with the device by connecting it with web services such as navigation, music and email and supplementing these offerings with a slew of acquisitions in 2007. Nokia’s gobbling up of mapping company Navteq made headlines as one of the noteworthy acquisitions of 2007 which stamped its position in the location based services arena on GPS enabled phones

Similarly Nokia is leaving no stone unturned in the ever hotting up music market as it launched the unlimited free download service “Comes With Music” in an effort to provide a range of tunes for people to download directly on to their Nokia mobile devices. It might sound ‘simplistic’, but from Nokia’s point of view it aims at driving the sales of Nokia handsets via the music it provides

Last but not the least Nokia is packing in an array of content into its devices in an effort to differentiate itself better from other manufacturers.

No one knows whether these moves by Nokia would ultimately be the nails in the coffin for its competitors, but one thing that seems imminent to me is that Nokia would definitely keep throwing its hat into the ring each time it feels challenged.

By John Rajiv