Nokia upbeat on Microsoft alliance

Nokia is in the midst of a huge makeover that will see the Finnish mobile phone giant move to Microsoft's software on its handhelds. After selling 453 million units in 2010, Nokia's senior executives have said that 2011 will be a rebuilding year to reposition itself in a market that is increasingly more competitive and sophisticated. International Data Corporation (IDC) said 1.7 million smart phones were shipped to the UAE in 2010 along with a further 2.6 million standard feature phones for a total of 4.3 million handheld units. Tom Farrell, general manager for the Lower Gulf Nokia, met with Gulf News to discuss the challenges and successes that lie ahead for the manufacturer. To talk about the future, it is educational and enlightening to reflect on the past. We are at a time of profound disruption in mobile telecoms as it rapidly converges with the Internet, entertainment, and media domains. History has shown us that moments of disruption create enormous opportunities for innovation in the years and decades which follow. I maintain the point of view that we are just entering an era of fresh innovation. Mobility has the potential to become the most dynamic medium ever (versus radio, TV, and even desk-based computing for example). Historically, great companies are defined by their ability to lead through disruptions, and then emerge from those disruptive periods even stronger than before. We have gone through such periods before at Nokia. For example, we started out in the paper and pulp industry and we used to manufacture rubber boots, electronic cables, TVs. And as we know, we truly were the disruptors 15 years ago when we created the mobile telecommunications mass market. Today, we are at such a crossroads again, but this time it us who is being disrupted. The manner by which we will be successful is to draw on the strength of our engineering, respect the values of our past, and take decisive action to change the way we work in the future. At its core, this is about driving a ‘challenger' mindset and behaviour, both within my own team at Nokia Lower Gulf and with our business partners. Even though we continue to be the market leader in Lower Gulf even by value terms, and not just volume terms, I absolutely do not think in those terms. We have lost some ‘mind share' in the market from a brand perspective and I very much want to drive a ‘turnaround' mindset and behaviour in the business. That is how we will turn disruption into an opportunity for renewal. The background to the Microsoft announcement is very much tied to the aspect of change and disruption which we face today as Nokia. The battle of devices has now become a war of eco-systems, where eco-systems include not only the hardware and software of the device, but developers, applications, e-commerce, advertising, search, social applications, location-based services, unified communications and many other things. Our competitors aren't taking our market share with devices; they are taking our market share with an entire eco-system. And the competitive pressure is intensifying all the time. In such a scenario, one needs to decide how to build, catalyse or join an eco-system. As markets and industries converge at an accelerating rate, no one company will have sufficient financial resource, ideas and human talent to ‘do it all'. We recognise and acknowledge this new reality, and based on our pragmatic challenger mindset, we decided to join forces with Microsoft. A long term strategic alliance will build a global eco-system that creates opportunities beyond anything that currently exists. This will offer a serious compelling alternative to the existing choices currently being presented to consumers, retailers, operators, developers and distributors. Scale is critical to a winning eco-system since the current disruptive innovation will play out over the coming years and even decade. Together, Nokia and Microsoft will bring unrivalled scale in global reach, brand identity and product breadth. We don't just plan to be competitive as an eco-system; we plan to redefine the industry landscape for the years to come. Nokia will move to Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform, while Symbian becomes a franchise platform, leveraging previous investments to deliver additional value. Nokia aims to retain the existing 200 million Symbian users and targets sales of approximately 150 million more Symbian devices, providing a significant transition market for Nokia Windows Phones. We plan to start shipping Windows Phone-based smartphones in volume during 2012. In terms of Middle East rollout, the Windows Phone platform does not support the Arabic language today. We are working very closely with Microsoft to accelerate support during 2012. [We are] opening a new Nokia-branded global application store that leverages the Windows Marketplace infrastructure. Developers will be able to publish and distribute applications through a single developer portal to millions of consumers in the Middle East that use Windows Phone, Nokia Symbian and Nokia Series 40 devices. Our new strategy is based on three ‘pillars': First, regain our leadership in the smartphone market. Secondly, maintain our volume and value leadership in mobile phones and thirdly, sustain our future as the world's leading mobile manufacturer. Number two is what we like to call ‘web for the next billion'. Nokia continues to enjoy a dominant position in growth economies, on the strength of our feature phones and brand. We will continue to connect people to their first phone and their first Web and application experience. By providing compelling and affordable, localised mobile experiences, particularly to the emerging markets in Middle East and Africa, our ambition is to bring the next billion online. Today, there are 1.4 billion people using a Nokia device worldwide so we have an unparalleled position for further solidifying our leadership in this aspect. Number three is what we like to call ‘investment in future disruptions'. Personally, I am very excited by our plans in this area because this is how we will bring back the pioneering spirit of Nokia. We have been working on an open source platform called ‘MeeGo' which will drive on-going exploration of the next generation of devices, platforms and user experiences. We will launch a MeeGo product later this year and we are very keen to get feedback from users and partners. Nokia does not share revenue or business outlook by region or country. I do, however, feel optimistic about our ability to increase revenues in this region because the fundamentals are there. Our brand is still strong in the Middle East, consumers are spending, our Symbian smartphone range is getting a dramatically better look and feel over the coming month, and we see continued consumer pull for our mobile phones to which we have now added dual SIM, for example. In 2010, our total mobile device volumes globally reached 453 million units. The overall industry volumes reached 1.43 billion units, based on Nokia's preliminary market estimate. From / Gulf News