Nokia seem at the moment to be sending mixed messages. On the one hand they have had to face the bad news that Intel no longer supports Meego, a linux operating system that was destined to potentially power Intel tablets. The concept seemed to be a good idea but never got adopted by other manufacturers and thus became a shelved idea. The Meego concept may be replaced by a project called Meltemi.
The news that Nokia has a project called “Meltemi” that will supposedly be used to provide functionality to low and mid range Nokia cellphones. It seems that the Meltemi project has been done to provide the Meego developers with an incentive to stick with Nokia. I suspect that “Meltemi” might be aimed at providing Symbian with a touch screen interface. If one looks closely at the potential moves that Nokia might make to stay alive then a low cost range of phones that provide a touch and app experience might be a very good idea.
The problem I sense is that with the decline in market share and major challenges that the mobile ecosystem faces from Android and iOS domination, Nokia has no clear vision for their future.
Regular readers will be aware that I have speculated that Nokia might become an acquisition target for Microsoft. The Microsoft partnership has provided Nokia with no clear method to combat the low cost Android devices that are flooding the market at the moment. Windows Phone 7 is aimed in terms of price at a higher end of the market. However the current situation has led to Nokia having a gap in the mid to lower end of the cellphone market. So the Meltemi move can potentially be seen as an attempt by Nokia to remain the volume leader in the cellphone ecosystem.
Nokia has also announced 3500 layoffs of their workforce worldwide. Media reports have stated that a majority of the number is for staff in the commerce and location divisions. I might be mistaken but those mentioned are potentially massive income generators for Nokia and highlights just how big the problems are that Nokia are facing. It seems that they are desperate to cut expenses and try to stay afloat and relevant.
The clock is ticking for Nokia and if the Meltemi rumor is true then they might stick around for a while. Would you consider a lower end cellphone that has a touch screen and apps?
