Nokia Chief Stephen Elop had announced in 2011 that Nokia would be replacing its own operating system, Symbian, with Windows phone OS. This decision came after many years of struggling with an OS that could not compete with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. The Nokia Lumia series, which run on windows phone, is the most successful smartphone series by the Finnish tech giant so far. Therefore, it is no surprise that Nokia is letting go of its Symbian OS altogether. Upon the release of its Q4 results, Nokia also announced that the 808 PureView would be the last Symbian device ever. The company’s earnings call report substantiates this decision, as Symbian handsets made up for only 14 percent of the total handset sales globally.
The Nokia Lumia 920 is available now starting at $19.99.
However, upon consideration of Nokia’s markets, it seems like the end of Symbian came too soon. For years now, Nokia has been losing market share to technologically superior competitors. But if the one-time world leader has one strong market, it’s the emerging countries. Brazil, India and Africa are still consuming Nokia phones in large numbers.
These markets led to the high numbers of Nokia Asha last year. Asha is a low-end Symbian series, which is popular because it combines satisfactory specs with a very reasonable price. The Asha line sold 9.3 million phones in 2012, which is more than double the sales of the Lumia Windows-Phone devices.
In the newly evolving smartphone markets, budget smartphones are doing much better than the high-end Apple or Samsung mobiles. These include cheap android phones (sometimes from local companies), Blackberry’s low-priced phones and various Nokia models. That is why even Apple was rumored to be developing a low-cost iPhone. These phones don’t have the kind of margins their premium-priced counterparts boast of, but they have better volumes and widespread appeal among consumers that are new to the smartphone. Most of these cost less than $100.
Currently, Nokia’s cheapest Windows-Phone mobile costs almost double its most expensive Symbian mobile. If Nokia wants to maintain its part of the economical phone segment, it can do two things – bring down the price of Windows-Phone products or keep Symbian OS just for the highest selling affordable phones.
Elop was quoted saying that the company will continue to innovate with Asha using the resources it currently has. Maybe the Canadian leading light, who is responsible for many game-changing decisions at Nokia, will come up with a third, better plan for their economy phones.
You can purchase the Nokia Lumia 920 now starting at $19.99.
