Nokia bullish about 2011

You could be forgiven for thinking that the hype around Apple and Android has left Nokia for dead. Far from it, says the Irish country manager, who tells Ian Campbell why 2011 is going to be a big year for the company

ALAN O’HARA has a bone to pick with the media. The country manager for Nokia Ireland is somewhat irked by the very public love affair between the press and Apple, which, he argues, gives a distorted impression of the mobile market.

He has a point. Last year’s iPad launch attracted unprecedented coverage for a consumer electronics product, with online news sites delivering minute-by-minute coverage of the press conference and most newspapers dutifully reporting its arrival the next day. The hype followed the success of the iPhone, Apple’s first mobile handset which achieved iconic status from a standing start.

For Nokia, the world’s leading manufacturer of mobile devices, media relations have been a good deal more strained. The Financial Times dismissed its latest smartphone, the N8, the same day it covered its launch. Despite some positive reviews, there has been a general wave of apathy towards the product, with the Symbian 3 operating system variously described as dated and sluggish compared to the iPhone and a growing band of Android devices.

“I’d like to see the media look at the overall consumer offering and take the product for a proper test drive. Everyone is het up about operating systems but, when you’re buying a car, you don’t just look at the engine, you look at the overall package,” says O’Hara. He lists a wide range of features available on the N8 that you would struggle to find on competing products – a 12MB camera and HD video with HDMI output, and near-field communications technology are standout features.

Feeling short-changed about the absence of head-to-head comparisons, O’Hara is also concerned about the preoccupation with high-end smartphones. “We’re getting a speed wobble in that particular segment, but we’re playing in the mass market at every price point.”

A third of all handsets globally are made by Nokia and the company is particularly strong in underdeveloped countries and emerging markets, which account for the largest share of its revenues. Robust, easy-to-use “candybar” phones are best sellers, despite limited functionality.

In the developed markets, Nokia has a wide range of products at every price point, including a choice of smartphones rather than a single iconic product. Nokia’s global market share is about 35 per cent, a figure that is substantially higher in Ireland, according to O’Hara, where 70 per cent of mobile phones are sold through retailers. With about 60 phones in its current range, shelves are not short of Nokia products.

This level of penetration has been hard-earned over many years. Since Nokia equipment was used for the first phone call over a GSM network in 1991, the Finnish company has enjoyed a 20-year reign that is only matched by Microsoft’s dominance of the desktop.

A slick user interface and sturdy build quality made it the must-have brand, seeing off names like NEC and Motorola. It took pole position in most of the world by the mid-Nineties and has stayed there ever since. Tellingly, the first signs of fallibility were around the emergence of WAP at the start of the Noughties, the first foray into multimedia services and mobile access to the internet.

As handsets evolved into mini-computers, manufacturers struggled to keep the interface user friendly. The promise of a one-stop communications device for information and entertainment was enticing but it took Apple to do it well. The superior touch screen on the iPhone, coupled with iTunes and then the App Store, offered a compelling range of services that Nokia has struggled to match. “We have been playing catch-up with Apple but we are making huge inroads,” O’Hara adds.

The company has worked hard to improve its Ovi platform, where users can download apps, music and games. O’Hara claims the changes have been well received in Ireland, where the number of app downloads has increased by 50 per cent in the last year from a six-figure starting point.

He puts great store on local activity and cites it as a way to distance itself from the competition. This year, the Irish office will be looking to encourage more Irish brands to develop apps and content for Ovi, while local operators are encouraged to get on board with a shared revenue model.

There are also plans to open an online store that will sell the complete range of SIM-free phones and accessories, something it already does in other parts of Europe, including Britain.

“We’re always getting knocked in Ireland for not making phones available that you can get in other markets. We will deal direct with consumers at a time when handset subsidies from operators are decreasing.”

O’Hara prefers to talk local rather than global where rumours are rife about Nokia launching phones with an Android or Windows Phone 7 operating system. All he will confirm is that MeeGo, the operating system developed with Intel that will co-exist with Symbian rather than replace it, will be on a new generation of Nokia mobiles by the second half of the year.

A Nokia tablet is not likely. “The jury’s still out,” O’Hara says. “Personally, I’m not convinced that they are selling that well and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a price drop coming.”

He is equally unconvinced by Microsoft’s latest move with Windows Phone 7. “It hasn’t created any noise in the Irish market. They need operators to embrace it.”

Top of O’Hara’s agenda is for Nokia to steal back some of the high end.

“In the first half of 2011, you will see us become serious competitors with the N8, C7 and C3 smartphones. Maps, music, social networking and location-based services will all become more prevalent this year and we will be at the forefront of all of them.”