Nokia’s share in the smartphone market has dipped significantly in recent years. The company was at the apex of the market at a point of time and now remains a mere shadow of its past self. However, all hope may not be lost for Nokia despite Apple and Android surging ahead in terms of market dominance.
Windows Phone, which runs on several HTC models but is majorly supported by Nokia, seems to be picking up steam, but it may take a while before it can topple Apple or Android. Windows Phone’s US smartphone share recently clocked in at 2.7%, however, more importantly, it boasts of double digit market share in countries like Italy. However, one of Nokia’s biggest markets, India, has seen a huge drop of 23% in the number of consumers who use Nokia phones. Nokia, however, needn’t focus on their smartphone segment alone in the immediate future as their joint venture with Siemens may pay huge dividends.
The Nokia Siemens Network (NSN) principally deals in wireless infrastructure and mobile communications. According to Forbes, this venture may prove to be a game-changer for the Finnish firm as it has contributed approximately 800 million Euros to the company’s coffers. Its operating margins have increased as a result of aggressive restructuring and profit sustainability. According to a Forbes source, NSN has increased its market share in the networking and communications hardware industry to around 20%, only 2% behind second-best Huawei. If things go according to plan, Ericsson might be ousted from the first spot by the end of this year.
However, there are issues galore too. Nokia and Siemens have an equal share in the agreement, which has just expired, which in turn allows either one of the firms to sell their share without consulting the other. Nokia has threatened to pull-out in the past, but now, however, their hopes rest on Siemen staying with the joint venture. This might be an issue since the German firm lost a little less than 750 million Euros in equity investments in the previous year because of its share in this venture. Neither company has recently released a statement regarding the same.
Nokia needs to do a couple of things to ensure long-term survival – increase its market share and to ensure that the income coming in from the NSN venture is put to productive use.
