A Shot At Smartphone Relevance With Nokia
Nokia’s shift to Windows Phone 7 as its primary smartphone platform is expected to take about two years, with 2011 and 2012 described by the company’s leadership as “transition” years. And while it might seem like Nokia can ill afford any further delays in rolling out a compelling smartphone strategy, the time it will lose implementing the transition may be well worth the end result: relevance in the smartphone space for itself and for Microsoft as well.
The combination of Nokia’s global brand, distribution and scale advantages with Microsoft’s software acumen and marketing muscle is a powerful one, says Canaccord analyst T. Michael Walkley–potentially powerful enough to push Windows Phone 7 into the top three mobile operating systems and give Nokia a strong foothold in the States.
“…The Microsoft partnership provides Nokia with…a much needed re-entry into the North American market, where its market share has stagnated at low-single-digit levels for multiple years,” Walkley says. “Overall, we believe if Nokia and Microsoft collaborated to develop the WP7 ecosystem and launch compelling devices, WP7 could become a third viable OS versus the current smartphone landscape dominated by Android and iOS.”
The wildcards in this scenario: execution and time to market, which is particularly important given the ballooning popularity of the iPhone and its Android rivals.
