Louven reports, “The Finns stand with a market-leading share of nearly 37 percent, but the new competition from Apple and from BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion in the retail business has the giant duly concerned; especially in the high-margin smartphone business.”
Louven reports, “‘Technically, the Nokia phones were much better than the iPhone,’ said Carolina Milanesi, the market researcher Gartner. ‘But were too complicated to use.’ In the coming years, ease of use will decide success and failure, said Vanjoki.”
Louven reports, “Still, Vanjoki expects that, in the end, Apple will amount to little importance in the market. ‘The development of mobile phones will be similar in PCs,’ predicts the chief strategist. ‘Even with the Mac, Apple has attracted much attention at first, but they have still remained a niche manufacturer. That will be in mobile phones as well.'”
The full article via Google German to English translation is here.
MacDailyNews Take: With a “Chief Strategist” like that, it’s no wonder Nokia is hemorrhaging market share, euros, and employees like there’s no tomorrow; because, for them, there likely isn’t. This quote ranks right down there with beleaguered Palm’s then-CEO Ed Colligan who said in November 2006, “We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.” Ed presaged his company’s fate by disappearing into obscurity earlier this year. The quote for which Vanjoki will likely be best-remembered (you might as well just start chiseling now, headstone carver) has been iCal’ed for copious and gleeful future use.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Karwa” for the heads up.]
Thank you for news
Apple is already moving beyond “smart phone”, so he may be correct.
Wow. Doubling down. Gutsy. Not smart, but gutsy.
I love the arrogance of certain types who just can’t seem to understand that their “old school” thinking is keeping them blind to the currents of change, either in business, technology or social behaviors. These mindsets are the easiest to defeat, as history has shown over and over… <shaking my head at the obvious here…>
That’s great! Because they are moving out of the niche player role in computers so they will move out in smartphones too!
LOL……. funny. Who wants to the be the market leader in unit sales at paper thin margins? Just wait for the end of that exclusive contract. They will be giving away Nokia’s sh*t for free…….. wait, they already do…….
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I get it. The Nokia guy is trying a Jedi mind trick.
“These aren’t the phones you’re looking for.”
“… These aren’t the phones we’re looking for.”
“But I am very confident that we now know what we must do, namely to build cell phones that are easy to use and that look good.” How do these guys get jobs? What kind of imbecile… oh well, if Nokia don’t go down there is no justice in the world.
A player in the niche called ” the only part of the industry worth bothering about financially” and owning most of it. I spose ignorant shareholders vote ignorantly on their board.They’ve been carried along so far on the flow, with no competition, selling tons of crap and now people are turning away. Wether Nokia make it or not, people like these need to be recognized and got rid of. Maybe a job in marketing… oh, that’s what he is, sorry… ignore that. Just that the tone of the article implied he was important! hehe.
or maybe the iPhone will end up like the iPod a niche player with the majority of the of the market
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@pdxflint
I agree. I just do not understand it. What works is right in front of them. I think it would take a miracle, maybe Steve Jobs could go to Nokia’s headquarters and actually layout the business plan for them. I guess the problem is, time isn’t on their side. Instead of dismissing the iPhone as a flop, they could have started a ground up project 2 years ago. They may have had something to compete right now. Instead, they are running in circles talking the same smack they were 2 years ago.
In sports, they tell players and coaches not to say anything the other team can use as “bulletin board” material – statements that will help motivate the other team to reeeeeaaaalllly want to beat you but good.
Apparently, Apple’s competitors haven’t quite figured this out yet…
Wow so much hate…
I thought you apple fanboys like being in the niche?
The thing is, Apple doesn’t MIND being a “niche player”, just as long as the “niche” is being the biggest player in the most expensive section of the market. They might not be quite there, quite yet, but they are certainly well on their way. Especially in the “profits” part.
So, yeah. Nokia, you can have the bulk of the cell phone sales. Just let Apple have the largest share of the top 10% of those phones by value. Oh. Wait. They don’t need your permission for that. They just took it. Just pretend to have S.A.D., good ’til Spring.
Does Steve really need any EXTRA MOTIVATION??
Thank you! Really!
Prior to the iPhone, they obviously thought the best way to sell phones was to create phones that are “hard to use and look bad”.
NOW the largest phone maker has it all figured out – at the end of 2009.
Nokia is the next Sony.
I wonder what Apple’s market share would be if they exclude corporations that buy/lease 500 cheapest possible computers?
I’d bet that for home computers, Apple would be close to 50%….not a niche.
The main reason these other companies come out and talk down the iPhone is because corporate law in many countires forbids directors doing anything that will knowingly drive down the share price of their company. Anyone who is a member of the board of of Nokia (or Microsoft, or RIM) is forced to talk down the iPhone, even if they think it is great.
Right, guys, niche market but very PROFITABLE niche market, so BOOYA, Nokia!
Not the same as being a niche player, Apple redefined the market. Vanjoki: “we now know what we must do” — observe Apple’s success w. design, copy same.
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‘Even with the Mac, Apple has attracted much attention at first, but they have still remained a niche manufacturer. That will be in mobile phones as well.’
Hmm, it seems like I’ve heard this argument before. Let me think…
Oh, right! This is the exact same prediction that was made by every MP3 player manufacturer about the iPod! It’s the exact same prediction that was made by every online music retailer about iTunes! “Because Apple failed to take over with the Mac, all their other efforts will of course follow the exact same pattern.”
We all know how that turned out.
Seriously, if the Nokia guy actually thinks that Nokia is destined to defeat Apple for no other reason than that they’re Nokia and Apple is Apple, I’d start shorting their stock now. Big time.
——RM
Sauce for the goose.
given the fact that iPhone sales are growing faster than iPod sales and that the iPod has 70% marketshare, Anssi Vanjoki should start looking for a new career. He can’t research or strategize his way out of a box if he ignores trend data.
Needless to say, if Nokia’s “chief strategist” really believes what he just said, he should be fired immediately for extreme incompetence and/or stupidity.
“Wow so much hate…”
What an overused word! As in politics, the new definition of “hate” is: anything I disagree with.
Try to be a little more creative. Buzzwords are like paper currency, it becomes worth less every day.
CRAPple will remain a niche player in any market regardless where they at.
http://www.bing.com When it comes to decisions that matter, Bing & Decide
What we “hate” is stupidity………
He’s absolutely right! Apple is a NICHE market. The NICHE that WORKS! – that is a definite minority of PCs.
What else could the guy say?
“OMG! We never saw Apple coming! We had no idea there was so much pent up demand for well designed smartphones! We are scrambling like crazy to get our own products to market! In the meantime we have our legal people attempting to slow Apple down by suing them. Uh, uh… we pulling our pants up… just give us a few quarters… pay no attention to that stupid chart on MDN!”
Some of his points are valid. The world won’t all start to use the same phone. Never gonna happen. There will be markets and levels of the market that Apple won’t penetrate, as long as there is only one iPhone (yeah, there are a few models, but it’s basically the same look, and therefore in many people’s minds, the same device). Some people buy phones for the bling factor, or the trendiness, and don’t care so much about whether it’s got a GPS or how large the screen is. The market will never go 100% Apple.
I wonder how much they paid for the naming rights to “Nokia Theater”?
Wow, I just learned how to spell “beleagured” in Finnish.
It’s spelled, N-O-K-I-A, Nokia.
“But I am very confident that we now know what we must do, namely to build cell phones that are easy to use and that look good.”
Anssi Vanjoki – Nokia Chief Strategist
Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable.
Yeah, Nokia currently has over 200 cell phone models listed on Cnet right now. All they have to do is figure out how to build one good one.
Oh yeah, they also need to figure out which mobile OS to use and how to launch an online store which doesn’t suck like Ovi or “Comes with Music” and how to get US telcos to subsidize their phones while not crippling them.
But yes, otherwise they’ve got if figured out.
I don’t care. I love my cozy little “niche.”
@Ken C
..and snappy in Finnish is spelled, A-P-P-L-E.
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This article and Nokia’s Anssi Vanjoki comments are just too stupid to comment on…..
@I’m a PC
If you’re going to toss around insults at least have the courtesy of turning on your spell checker.
Wow. No wonder Nokia is stumbling. Apple will succeeed with the iPhone if for no other reason than this: No manufacturer other than Apple can release a cell phone that also is a portable computer and an iPod!
Game, set match.
“”In the past, Nokia focused too much on technical issues”
You mean you’ve been sitting on your but!
“instead of optimizing the design of our phones,” said Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia’s chief strategist. “But I am very confident that we now know what we must do”
Yea, all we have to do is build a pretty phone (that looks good in ad’s) that’ll do it.
Vanjoki should be learning his history from what happened with the iPod instead of the low end – no profit – computer market.
Aha – just like the iPod, a small niche player hey…!
Nokia = Finnish(ed)
“Nokia Chief Strategist: Apple will remain a niche player in smartphones, just like in computers”
And Nokia’s Chief Strategist will remain as Steve Ballmer, saying crazy things
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I’m sure Apple has no problems with being a “niche player” in either the computer or mobile phone industry, because Apple is making the majority of the profit in both markets, as most competitors struggle just to turn a profit.
Well if I don’t remember well, business is about sell out something and make profit of it. Regardless the share market, apples is doing just that, sell something with high margin. If Apple don’t take over the world, but keep making money like crazy, why all anti-apple people keep pointing at them and called Looser??
All those that called us hating people, don’t look at themselves: in the last 2 quarters only 2 companies in technology show growing: IBM and Apple..and IBM loss in the HW, but compensate it with services.. so only apple make money manufacturing hw vs the rest of the industry… So why we should be feeling like losers, if the company has a steady grow????
I wish the pc guys/anti-apple explained why they talk of apple like if apple is the one loosing money and firing people??
What is interesting is what this guy thinks will be the ‘PC’ in the phone market to reduce Apple to a niche player. Symbian is not a computer quality OS increasingly required by real smartphones and that is why everyone other than Nokia has deserted Symbian. Win Mobile is simply a warm corpse, it may get a second (or is it third, or fourth) wind but only in the form of a zombie like presence, ie dead but doesn’t quite accept it yet. Unless Nokia is going to move to Android it certainly isn’t going to be in the smartphone market longer term and even if it does convert far eastern competitors will simply eat it alive in that quagmire. Baring miracles or intelligence well beyond this spokesman’s capabilities Nokia is already a dead man walking.
Actually, Nokia is also eventually going to abandon Symbian for Linux Maemo. They have already started to put it on their highest-end phones or tabs like the N900. Who is going to develop apps for Symbian, when Nokia is already transitioning to Maemo?
I was sure Nokia was finnished.
A MicroSoftie is someone who would NEVER–EVER–defend McDonald’s (the world’s largest purveyor of shoddy hamburgers) but would lay their penises on the line for MSFT, the world’s largest purveyor of shoddy software).
Do, please, try to be consistent, MicroSoftie faninfantiles!
I’m a PC just said pretty much the same thing the rest of us said, yet all the attitude suggests he thought he was saying something different. Something somehow negative. The choice of language suggests pathetic ignorance.
His take on being “a niche player in any market”, though … So the iPod’s 70% is a niche while Zune’s 5%(?) is dominance? That’s quite an interesting “reality”.
It’s now a read herring.
I see most of you are hypocrites. You support Apples arrogance but are outraged when Nokia shows a bit of it.
Also, I think that you all are really underestimating Nokia. They have managed to get where they are, do you really think that they are stupid? Do you really hope that their business will fail causing thousands of people to be without employment just so that you can have a warm and fuzzy feeling?
Sick, sick, sick.
Sturgeon’s Law:
“Ninety percent of everything is crud.”
So far.
err … isn’t “optimizing the design of our phones” part of a “technical issues”?
don’t blow smoke up our ass, nokia. if you don’t know what the hell you were (and are) doing, just say so.
Clarification:
The other- so far- 10%, is from Apple.
@Turnips: Do I really think that Nokia is stupid?
“Even with the Mac, Apple has attracted much attention at first, but they have still remained a niche manufacturer. That will be in mobile phones as well.”
There’s your answer.
The mac started with underpowered hardware going against an entrenched standard platform (DOS.) DOS had the entrenched apps.
Apple has already blown by that barrier–it has the apps–it has others playing catch up.
I don’t know how it all plays out but I do know that the Mac comparison is backwards (back in those days we said that mac had fewer but better apps.) Windows won because it inherited the bigger ecosystem.
And Apple has shown with the ipod that indeed it can win as the sole hardware vendor. Because it learned from the 80s and the 90s not to give competitors a big price umbrella.
And Nokia… Nokia doesn’t even have the Android hardware diversity thing going for it. (And guess what… if Apple is truly threatened by cheap hardware for the 3rd world… Apple will start making it.)
But hey guys…. cling to your delusions… and hope Apple gets stupid.
The only thing that could hurt Apple is if its users start having lousy experiences… and by lousy I mean worse than its competitors. Looks like the ipod all over again to me.
And the thing about smartphones is that they’re ALL expensive. It’s the contract, stupid. The cost of the device is almost a rounding error.
We can continue to sit here and shake our heads at why these people balmer etc etc do what they do but I think it comes to a simple 5 letter word-PRIDE
Even if God himself came down and told them all that Apple was right they still wouldn’t admit it–they can’t…
remember marcellus wallace “that little thing prick’n you in the back of the head? that’s pride…”
Amen
I heard this from an experienced professional trainer, Roger Konopasek recently.
We live in an age of disruption. Even a 13 year-old has his own YouTube Channel. Either you change and adapt with the times, or SOMEONE ELSE WILL EAT YOUR LUNCH!
Clearly Nokia is like Microsoft. They’ve gotten too comfortable with their own PAST SUCCESS!
Julian @ http://no-spamming/
As my good friend Zeke used to say, “You can always tell a Finn, but you can’t tell him much”.
Sorry MDN Zeke, I knew another Zeke, years ago, back in Chicago .
@Turnips
Ha ha (Rutabaga) Swedes, Finns … missed by that much.
However, the word turnip always reminds me of the English soccer team’s failure to proceed past the qualifying round of UEFA Euro 1992 with a 2–1 defeat against Sweden, which led to newspaper headlines such as “Swedes 2 Turnips 1” and manager Graham Taylor’s nickname “Turnip Head”.
“But I am very confident that we now know what we must do, namely to build cell phones that are easy to use and that look good.” …
The toon’ link below sums up the bleedn’ obvious perfectly.
http://www.businesscartoons.co.uk/4477.htm
from
http://www.businesscartoons.co.uk/sales_cartoons_catalogue_6.htm
@Turnips
Nah. If Nokia does something deserving of arrogance, we’ll support it. Right now though, they’re more like the arrogant champ that got knocked out but the upstart and are still talking smack. Now is the time to quietly get ready for the rematch.
Instead they are offering the same old crap, suing instead of innovating (really bad sign), and acting like the fact that they got knocked out never happened. That’s beyond arrogant. That’s delusional.
@ I’m a PC
I think it goes like this…
bada bing, bada boom, bada bomb.
You decide.
@ theloniousMac
Is Apple really deserving of their arrogance? They make only expensive devices which only the relatively wealthy can afford. Nokia makes products with a wide price range, and has made communication affordable and possible for people all over the world, and has therefore made the world a better place. Thus I believe they can be afforded some arrogance, even though I despise arrogance in all its forms.
As for the suing, I believe that it rubs you the wrong way simply because they are suing apple. Imagine if Apple was suing them, then how would you feel about it?
There does seem to be plenty of evidence that Nokia is preparing for the next round, with their resources I believe that they can afford a lull but in the the coming year they should be coming on well.
As for “innovating”, that’s a buzzword that seems to be quite popular these days. Innovation is not always a good thing! For example, putting power buttons and usb ports on the back of the computer. That may be innovative, but it’s also very annoying!
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