The new Nokia smartphone Lumia 800
>> Thursday, December 22, 2011
New Windows Nokia smartphone fails to shine
02:08 PM Dec 22, 2011
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| The new Nokia smartphone Lumia 800. REUTERS |
HELSINKI - Nokia's long-awaited Windows phones may be too little, too late in the smartphone war dominated by Apple and Google, despite positive reviews by handset critics.
Its first Windows model, the Lumia 800, has won little interest from consumers, with only 2 per cent of Europeans in the market for a smartphone saying they would pick it, according to a survey by Exane BNP Paribas.
Analysts said there was nothing particularly wrong with the sleek-looking handsets, other than a software glitch on some models affecting battery life, but consumers were just not biting.
Smartphones using Microsoft software have just a 2 per cent market share, compared with Google Android at around 50 per cent and Apple at between 15 and 20 per cent.
"There isn't much room left for a third ecosystem. The smartphone market is consolidating fast," said Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu who rates Nokia a "sell".
Phones using Nokia's old Symbian software, which it decided to dump in favor of Microsoft, are still in circulation and outsell Windows phones 10 to 1.
But as Nokia keeps shifting to Windows, sales of Symbian have a lot of room to disappoint over coming quarters and some analysts are warning of lower dividends and weaker-than-expected earnings ahead.
Now even Microsoft has started to hedge its bets, making its software increasingly available for rivals to Windows Phone.
Smartphones are built on mobile computing platforms, and the most modern combine web browsers, navigation systems, cameras and portable music systems. A so-called "feature" phone - a market Nokia still dominates - has far fewer of these applications.
Analysts said there was nothing particularly wrong with the sleek-looking handsets, other than a software glitch on some models affecting battery life, but consumers were just not biting.
Smartphones using Microsoft software have just a 2 per cent market share, compared with Google Android at around 50 per cent and Apple at between 15 and 20 per cent.
"There isn't much room left for a third ecosystem. The smartphone market is consolidating fast," said Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu who rates Nokia a "sell".
Phones using Nokia's old Symbian software, which it decided to dump in favor of Microsoft, are still in circulation and outsell Windows phones 10 to 1.
But as Nokia keeps shifting to Windows, sales of Symbian have a lot of room to disappoint over coming quarters and some analysts are warning of lower dividends and weaker-than-expected earnings ahead.
Now even Microsoft has started to hedge its bets, making its software increasingly available for rivals to Windows Phone.
Smartphones are built on mobile computing platforms, and the most modern combine web browsers, navigation systems, cameras and portable music systems. A so-called "feature" phone - a market Nokia still dominates - has far fewer of these applications.
New Windows Nokia smartphone fails to shine
02:08 PM Dec 22, 2011
Source: www.todayonline.com/TechandDigital/Digital/EDC111222-0000099/New-Windows-Nokia-smartphone-fails-to-shine
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