Yesterday was a very significant day for Nokia. The Finnish cellphone manufacturer unveiled their latest smartphone challengers to the world. It was the third major event for their CEO Stephen Elop but the ramifications of yesterday are wide ranging. Will it be third time lucky for Nokia or another nail in their coffin for Elop?
The Lumia 800 & 600 feature Microsoft Windows Phone 7 “Mango” as their operating system and according to Nokia it is the first proper implementation of the Redmond based Company’s software. Microsoft I believe need the partnership with Nokia to be successful as Steve Ballmer is under pressure from their shareholders to deliver a proper mobile competitor to Apple and Android. The same can be said of Nokia’s CEO.
The Lumia 800 is for all intensive purposes their challenger to the Samsung Galaxy S2 and Apple iPhone 4S. It is a Nokia N9 with a few changes. The flash of the camera has been moved to be vertically adjacent to the camera. The Lumia 800 also has a dedicated camera button which the Nokia N9 does not have. The biggest change for the Nokia Lumia 800 is the software. It seems Nokia has realized that they need to have content optimised for their devices. The Lumia 800 will feature exclusive content from ESPN and various other providers.
The one problem with yesterday’s launch is that nothing was unveiled that is different from Android and iOS. Why would users want to buy this device? There is no significant value proposition that would make users pack away their Apple and Android devices. As critical as this may sound, all of the Nokia products will be measured on 2 variables: Device activations and device sales. Android is the leader in both at the moment and Nokia have faltered in both.
If looking at earlier media reports is to be used as an early measurement of how the Lumia 800 will perform then I think it may do very well. Nokia has finally delivered their Microsoft Windows Phone 7 devices. Now they need to convince users to buy the Lumia 800 and other devices..
