Nokia, which is carrying a generation of young people, has sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft for $7 billion in 2013. After that, the rumor that the market will return again will not be cut off, and product spy photos will appear repeatedly. For the return to the consumer market, the official attitude has also been denied from one time to the final clarity of this year.
In February of this year, Nokia’s current CEO Rajiv Suri officially announced at the MWC that the Nokia brand will return to the smart phone market. In May, Nokia announced the granting of global exclusive patent rights to HMD global Oy, and allowed the latter to produce Nokia-branded smartphones and tablets in the next 10 years. And recently (August 16) Nokia Communications China and Shanghai Bell, the president of the joint management team Wang Jianya said in an interview: Nokia brand mobile phones and tablet computers will return to the market in the fourth quarter of this year, after the expiration of the contract with Microsoft Nokia phones will return in the form of brand licensing. At this point, Nokia's return to the consumer market is regarded as having a clear timetable, and the reunification has finally settled.
Nokia, which was dismissed in the era of smart phones, returned again after a few years in the consumer market. Many commentators in the industry think that it is only a feeling of consumer users and is destined to end in tragedy. For prophecy, individuals think that it is not necessary to see the decline so quickly. From the current point of view, Nokia's return at the moment can be described as opportunities and challenges coexisting, and beyond the feelings, it is more powerful.
First, the opportunity and strength of Nokia's return
1. The advent of consumption upgrade era, Nokia faces great opportunities
At present, the smart phone market is moving toward the mid-to-high end market, and the era of consumer upgrade has already come. This is another great opportunity after the popularity of the smartphone market. According to the latest Nielsen smart device share monitoring platform, China's consumer upgrade trend further boosts consumer demand for high-end and mid-range handsets. The latest data of the platform shows that in the first half of 2016, the overall share of medium and high-end smart phones (more than 2,000 yuan) has reached 47.59%, an increase of nearly 4.38% year-on-year. From the standpoint of vendor performance, we can also clearly see that smart phone brands that had previously gained a foothold in the mid-to-high-end market with more than two thousand files have clearly achieved greater growth this year and received more consumer approval. Nokia's return to this time, targeting the 3000+ market, is the new trend of consumption upgrade.
2. Choose Android system, enter the 3000+ market, strategy is desirable
Earlier, many people attributed Nokia's decline to no innovation, but in essence, the biggest reason for Nokia's failure was the appearance of major strategic missteps. The fragile ecology of the Windows Phone system that its products are equipped with has led to a lack of applications that have caused consumers to abandon Nokia products. This time Nokia chose Android, first solve the shortcomings of the system ecology.
Selecting the first product to be priced at 3000+, hitting mid to high-end markets, is a good strategy. From the big trend, we are aiming at the new trend of consumption upgrade. From the market reality, the strength at this price is to reduce the existence of competitors. At present, there are only a handful of companies that can really stand firm at the price of 3000+: Apple, Samsung, Huawei, OPPO and vivo. In this market, the test is not cost-effective, but product design, innovation and other hard power to consumers. In this regard, Nokia is not weak.
3. Nokia's industrial design capabilities, outstanding technical capabilities
Consumers' pursuit of product appearance industrial design has never stopped. From the consumer's confusing words about Apple's current industrial design, the fresh and new praise from Samsung's hyperbolic screen industrial design can be seen. In terms of industrial design capabilities, Nokia is less sincere than Apple and Samsung. The previous Lumia series is the best proof. Lumia's industrial design is a big buying point for Nokia smartphones. Even if its flagship product industrial design is today, it can be surpassed.
In terms of technical capabilities, there is no doubt. Nokia's technology patent strength is well known in the industry. A powerful patent portfolio, on the one hand, provides Nokia Nokia with a smart phone, which clears patent barriers and provides strong protection. On the other hand, it offers possibilities for innovation. Prior to this, Nokia demonstrated strong technological innovation capabilities in its products, such as Nokia's exclusive PureView camera technology, professional camera applications, urban kaleidoscope, high-fidelity recording technology and other exclusive technologies, as well as such as graphene being studied. , flexible screens, and smart glasses, etc. We can still see that Nokia's ability to innovate in the consumer field has not diminished. Exploration has been ongoing.
4. Brand value, fan base dependence, senior talent return
Although the current Nokia brand's influence can not be compared with the heyday, but Nokia's people-oriented corporate philosophy, the unremitting pursuit of product quality, can be equally divided with Apple's Seiko design, photographing advantages and he represented the quality of practical and reliable, pioneering and innovative still Deeply rooted in the hearts of Nokia, Nokia has accumulated a large number of high-quality fans, Nokia is still a gold medal, in determining the future of emerging markets, Nokia is not a lack of influence.
After the transition, Nokia's cash flow provided strong support for consumer product R&D, promotion and related talent formation. And even more gratifying is that the original talents who worked for Nokia have returned. For example, Juha Alakarhu, who had developed 41 million pixels of PureView camera technology for Nokia, and Pekka Rantala, former CEO of Angry Birds, and so on. In fact, it was rumored that before trading with Microsoft, Nokia had long been intimidating to transfer its top designers from Nokia's equipment and service departments to Nokia's equipment and services department. This included the Nokia N8 design team and the Nokia N9. Designers and so on.
5. Close relationship with foundries
With the globalization of resources and the refinement of division of labor, the management and control of the supply chain and the capacity support of the foundry will largely determine the success or failure of a mobile phone. This time Nokia returns, there will be a strong ally of Foxconn. The approach adopted this time is that HMD will be responsible for the production and marketing of the global market. Nokia will only authorize the brand. Nokia will cooperate with HMD (formerly Nokia employees, mainly responsible for design) and Foxconn. With Foxconn's capacity support, Nokia's quality requirements, product quality and production capacity can be resolved.
Second, Nokia's return to the disadvantages
1. Serious damage to the channel, reconstruction of power
Even from 2013, Nokia has been nearly three years away from the Chinese smartphone market, and the original channel relationship has long since ceased to exist. For Nokia, it is a major disadvantage. At present, the importance of channels is becoming more prominent. We can see that almost all domestic manufacturers are now conducting channel construction, such as Huawei's Qianxian plan, Xiaomi's wide open stores, and so on. For the damaged channel reconstruction, it is not a long-term success.
2. The degree of localization will be tested
Localization has always been a hurdle for international brands. Due to the presence of a wall, most of them have to adopt Android-based custom ROMs. However, the degree of optimization and ease of use of a ROM will affect the success or failure of a product, but international brands are often dissatisfied in China. Although Nokia has some Android-based ROM on the X1 and X2 bases, it also launched the Z launcher launcher. However, it is not easy to introduce a ROM that meets the operating habits of the Chinese people. It still needs time to settle. At the same time, it will also face strong competition from Apple, Samsung, Huawei, OPPO and vivo that have already established a foothold in this market.
postscript:
Rumors for a long time, the return has finally come true. For Nokia, this return is not only the sale of feelings, but in fact it is the opportunity and challenge. After catching the Android 7.0 bus, there will be plenty to do. At the same time, I am more convinced that the market will not reject real innovators. The success of Nokia's return has always been pinpointed in its own hands, because the market will not reject real innovators. Looking forward to Nokia's return to the product as it was released Lumia920 that year, to bring true innovation to the market.
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