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.]
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.