Nokia Tablet to Feature MeeGo OS?

The question might have taken you by surprise. Nokia is a mobile phone manufacturer and the Finish handset maker has not revealed anything about whether it would join the Tablet PC market.

Well, there are some rumors suggesting that Nokia might come up with tablet PC looking to gain some share of the tablet PC market. If Nokia finally jumps into the tablet market, you might think that it would feature Windows operating system for its tablet PC, given the recent deal between Nokia and Microsoft for Windows Phone platform.

According to this deal, Nokia from now on would use Windows Phone for its future smartphone models. However, rumors have it in the media that Nokia might choose MeeGo operating system for tablet, instead of Windows OS.

Why? Well, it seems Nokia may want to bring out its tablet this year so that it does not become too late to enter into the tablet PC market. Microsoft, on the other hand, would not come up with Windows 8 OS until next year, and Windows Phone cannot be used in tablet PCs. That means Microsoft would launch its first tablet-enabled operating system Windows 8 in 2012.

MeeGo is a Linux-based operating system developed jointly by Nokia and Intel. At the moment, this operating system is mainly used in mobile devices, especially smartphones. However, tablet PCs can also be run on this operating system.

Will Nokia Join the Tablet PC Market?

Tablet PC is one of the hottest products in today’s technology world. No doubt, Apple iPad has revolutionized the market which once looked to be on the verge of getting extinct. It is pretty much clear that Apple would remain the leader in the market at least for the next 2 or 3 years, unless any company got the level of success which Asus experienced with its EEE PC in the netbook market. However, that does not mean that companies would stop entering the tablet market in the near future.

Now, let’s come to the point. Nokia is still the leader in the mobile phone market in terms of market share, though it has faced fierce competition recently from the Android-based smartphones. That is the reason the Finish handset maker has recently tied up with Microsoft’s Windows 7 platform. Here, the question is if Nokia would be lured to join the Tablet PC market considering increasing popularity of the tablet PC market.

Well, there is no indication Nokia would jump into the tablet PC market as of now, but what if they start to think that they can potentially expand their business in a market which requires almost similar infrastructure that they already have in their mobile phone business. Nokia may still be the leader in the mobile phone market, but they arrived the smartphone market some latter and thus lost some space to the competing companies like Samsung, HTC etc.

So, it seems Nokia would not like to do the same mistake again with the tablet PC market. They have already formed a partnership with Microsoft via Windows 7 OS and interestingly Microsoft is also planning to become stronger in the tablet market. So, Nokia and Microsoft could build a strong partnership in the tablet PC market assuming they have similar intention and aim in mind.

Nokia is optimistic about Navteq

On March 11, 2011, a corporate filing revealed that Nokia would not require to write down its 8.1 billion Navteq deal. In 2008, Nokia acquired Navteq, the largest digital map maker, to expand its business into the service sector.

That same year, Dutch navigation maker, TomTom, acquired TeleAtlas, a Netherlands-based digital map maker and wrote down €1 billion. Analysts also expected the same thing for the Nokia-Navteq deal. Reuters reports:

However the recoverable value of Navteq has improved to 15-20 percent above the value it is carried in Nokia's books from less than 1 percent higher two years ago, according to Nokia's annual 20-F form filed with the U.S. securities and Exchange Commission.

Only a year ago, Nokia said that Navteq’s recoverable value was 5-10 percent over book value. In 2010, Navteq’s sales grew 50 percent to €1 billion and operating loss narrowed to € 225 million.

Nokia is the top handset maker in terms of sales-volume in the world but it is yet to establish itself in the smartphone market, that is currently observing major growth. The handset maker is losing ground to Android and iOS. To counter Android and iOS’s growth, it partnered with Microsoft.

Nokia Ovi creates opportunities for mobile phone content developers in Bangladesh

Nokia is the market leader in the mobile phone market of Bangladesh. It has been in Bangladesh for quite sometime now. It is now going to create some opportunities for local mobile phone content developers in the country.

I received a press release from the company and I am giving it here:

From the 31^th of July, 2010 Nokia, the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile devices, will invite Expression of Interest (EOI) from mobile content developers in Bangladesh to join its global community of developers under a program entitled Grow with Ovi. Bangladeshi mobile content developers will be provided the opportunity to market their content to the global audience through Nokia’s Ovi Store. Ovi Store, launched worldwide in May 2009, offers downloadable mobile games, applications, videos, images, and ringing tones for Nokia devices.

Eligible mobile content developers, once they have signed up for Grow with Ovi, will work with Nokia to create mobile applications specifically for Bangladesh. The content developers will have the opportunity to market their content to a large audience through the Ovi Store, alongside established global application developers. Once an application is selected, the content developer will be able to co-market their product with Nokia to local consumers through device preload and joint marketing campaigns on Ovi Store, which is a great opportunity.

Ovi Store creates a platform for mobile content developers to showcase their talent and creativity and provides unique opportunities. Recently, on the 21^st of April 2010, one of Ovi Store’s mobile content developers, Off-screen Technologies, broke records with a combined 25 million downloads of their applications. These applications were downloaded from 210 different countries, a number higher than the number of UN member countries, highlighting Ovi Store’s geographic reach.

Nowfel Anower, Head of Marketing, Nokia Emerging Asia Ltd. said, “Globally, the mobile application market is set for a stellar growth. According to a recently published study from Wireless Expertise, a UK-based research firm, the mobile application market is estimated to increase from $4.66 billion this year to $16.60 billion in 2013. In Bangladesh, there are plenty of content developers and mobile applications developers who don’t have a proper platform to fully utilize their talent. Grow with Ovi, will hopefully create this platform and connect local application developers to their potential consumers both in the domestic and export market. ”

Nokia has more than 55 million active users of Ovi services globally and that number is growing day by day. Bangladeshi developers and content publishers are key to Nokia’s plan for the mobile future. Nokia aims to support local developers in bringing their ideas to commercial reality. “If you’ve interacted with the Bangladeshi developers, it’s hard not to be impressed with the creativity and talent Bangladesh has harnessed. Nokia is delighted to collaborate with them to offer localized mobile content for Bangladeshi consumers in future” Mr. Anower added. 

Nokia Targeting Indian Market Following Tata Nano Lead

It is expected that in 2010, India will have half billion mobile phone users. I know that it will still be behind China but it will become the second largest market. Well, it is true that most people in India do not spend a lot of money after their mobile phone sets and even they don’t change handsets very frequently either. Still, India is still a very attractive market for the manufacturers. Nokia is the market leader and that is why, it is giving a lot of importance to this market. Now, the plan of Nokia to follow the lead of Tata Nano and bring some very inexpensive mobile phone sets for the Indian market.

It is a very good strategy from Nokia. Of course, I wish they bring the inexpensive sets to the markets of Bangladesh and Nepal too.

Related Article

Wall Street Journal

Nokia Suffering a Japanese Setback!

I have been covering about mobile phone for the last three years and to the honest with you I was totally shocked to see that Nokia has decided to get out of the Japanese market because the company was not selling well there. How can it be possible! After all, Nokia is the market leader in the whole world and has around 40% market share of mobile phone. It is the market leader and very few companies can even think of competing with it in any continent of the world and but it seems that happened is our side of the reverse that Nokia belongs to.

Well, you have to agree with me in one thing is that Nokia is very good to when it comes to giving inexpensive and not so fashionable mobile phones. Japanese perhaps is the second richest country in the world and has a vibrant mobile phone market in which, the consumers always look for high quality gadgets in stead of inexpensive things. Here, Japanese companies totally dominate. So, the market leaders in other countries have hardly anything to do. It doesn’t matter whether you are one of the top five mobile phone companies in the world.

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BBC

Nokia Predicts a Fall in Global Mobile Phone Market in 2009

Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia has predicted a substantial drop in the mobile phone sales globally in the fourth quarter of 2008 and in 2009, amidst a global economic recession. Nokia has also revealed that global mobile phone sales this year would be 1.24 billion, even though 1.26 billion was previously estimated. Nokia also thinks that handset market as well as the mobile phone equipment market will fall next year, because of the global credit crunch in what would affect the consumers’ purchasing ability.

Mobile phone component prices are being fueled up due to strengthening U.S. dollar and yen. At the same time, economic slowdown in the emerging markets is affecting spending ability of the consumers.

ZD Net reported:

“In the last few weeks, the global economic slowdown, combined with unprecedented currency volatility, has resulted in a sharp pull back in global consumer spending,” Nokia said in a statement.

The strengthening U.S. dollar and yen are pushing up component prices for handset manufacturers, while weakening currencies in emerging markets are hurting the purchasing power of consumers in Nokia’s key markets. Additionally, the 15-nation euro zone has seen its economy shrink for the second quarter in a row.

Nokia, however, is hopeful about the developing markets, but the developed markets seem not be that that much alluring. Nokia operators and distributors are decreasing their stocks in order to get over the credit crunch.

Nokia Going to Share Music Revenue with Operators

Mobile is becoming a major source of entertainment day by day. Listening music in cell phone has become a part of life these days in many parts of the world. Now, realizing the ever-growing market of music, Nokia, one of the biggest mobile set producers, has recently taken an initiative to win more market share of mobile phone globally using the music as a tool.

Nokia has introduced a program titled ``Comes With Music,” in which one can enjoy unlimited access to millions of music tracks for a year just buying a Nokia set. With that program, Nokia was able to reach their goal, but some of the mobile operators who sell downloaded music to the users, were facing loses in their revenues.

Bloomberg reported:

The Finnish company unveiled in December the ``Comes With Music'' program, which will allow customers to buy a phone with a year of unlimited access to millions of tracks included in the purchase price. Nokia agreed to offer tracks from Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group, and is in talks with other major labels.

Mobile-phone service providers including Vodafone Group Plc and France Telecom SA's Orange sell music downloads to subscribers to help lift average revenue per user. Nokia's shift into services has caused concern among phone companies about how revenue is spread among the players.

Nokia bosses are trying their best to increase their market share providing more and more music to the users. Nokia’s popularity for its music has been increased in the last few years. Music has become one of their market advantages. I do not know if Nokia will emerge as a big threat to ipod in future, but it is almost certain that music will help Nokia to increase its global sales.

iPhone: Should Nokia be Worried?

I just saw in Technorati that iPhone is one of the hot tags now. That means that many bloggers are writing about. Yes, they are writing as iPhone can bring some traffic for them in the next few weeks. A few months ago, we saw much eagerness among people about Windows Vista but it seems that there is even a stronger interest about iPhone. So, it is natural that iPhone will attract many customers in the next few months and Apple will become an important player in the mobile phone market.

Right now, Nokia is the market leader in the mobile phone market world wide. Nokia is planning that within a few years, 1 out of every 2 mobile phone sets will be made from Nokia. Apple has already showed with its iPod what it can do. Microsoft tried very hard to break the dominance of iPod in the portable music device market but had failed so far. Now, should we see similar fate for Nokia phones?

Most probably not. First of all, the iPod buzz is mainly related in the USA. On the other hand, Nokia is doing well in Asia. China and India are now very important market for Nokia. I don’t see any possibility of iPhone challenging Nokia in these two giant markets. Secondly, Nokia is famous for its cheap phone sets. iPhone will be very expensive for most people in Asia and Africa.

So, there is no reason for Nokia to get worried about iPhone at this moment.

Samsung Catching Up Motorola in Mobile Phone market share

There is no competition for the first place. Nokia has captured it and it seems that the other mobile phone makers have accepted the fact that Nokia would rule. So, they are trying for the second spot. Until now, Motorola had it. Now, Samsung is gaining ground and soon Samsung may actually overtake Motorola and be the number 2 player in the mobile phone market world wide.

Americans Network reported:

A series of miscues in its handset division has sent Motorola's market share tumbling to 15.3% in the second quarter, down from a high of 22% last year, according to forecasts by CIBC World Markets analyst Ittai Kidron, which were quoted by the report.

Meanwhile, South Korea-based Samsung, which has seen its market share climb to 14.5%, is a close third, the Associated Press report added.

The decline comes about a year after experts thought Motorola was on a path to surpass rival Nokia for a spot as the world's top mobile phone company, it said.

Samsung really deserves to be in the second position. Samsung is always investing in research on mobile phone technology. Of course, Motorola will not want to lose its market share further. So, it will be an interesting fight in the next few months.

Who will win?