Independent Nokia Technologies aiming to return to phone market - report

Posted:
in General Discussion edited April 2015
Although Nokia's original mobile phone division was sold to Microsoft in 2013, one of the company's three remaining divisions -- Nokia Technologies -- is planning to re-enter the phone world, a report revealed on Monday.




The Re/code information is said to come chiefly from two sources familiar with Nokia's plans. Technologies is actually the smallest Nokia division, but critically controls over 10,000 patents. It has only released two products of its own, namely an Android app called Zlauncher, and the N1, an Android tablet design that's being licensed to another manufacturer and sold in China.

The report said that phones are likely to follow the same strategy used with the N1. Nokia Technologies is also allegedly exploring a number of other projects however, including some connected to virtual reality. The VR industry has seen a sudden resurgence in the past two years, with headsets released or in development by companies like HTC, Samsung, Sony, and Oculus VR. Unlike the first VR wave in the 1990s, sensor and display technologies are beginning to make the technology practical.

Any new Nokia phones will have to wait until the third quarter of 2016 though, owing to terms of the Microsoft deal. Re/code added that in the meantime the company has been engaged in hiring and development for products shipping in 2016 and beyond.

Nokia was once the leader the global cellphone industry. But the company was slow to respond to the advent of the iPhone and Android, and saw its share of the market quickly erode.

It's not clear what platform a new Nokia phone would use, but given the N1, Android is a likely candidate. Around the time of the Microsoft acquisition, Nokia was reliant on Windows Phone, owing to a previous deal forged in 2011.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 53

    Ah, the surest way to profit: Android!

     

     

    Wait, that's not right...

  • Reply 2 of 53

    Companies that partner with Microsoft seem to end up dying or getting majorly screwed.

     

    From IBM( Poorly made CP/M clone renamed MS DOS, OS/2), Sega(Dreamcast which used Wince), PlaysforSure partners, to Nokia.

     

    Apple somehow survived and still has Office made for it.

  • Reply 3 of 53
    ecatsecats Posts: 272member
    Their tablet effort was more than a subtle rip off of the iPad.

    Since most of their talent is gone(twice over, first by abandoning symbian, and secondly with the MS buy out) I'm not anticipating much more than more knock off products.
  • Reply 4 of 53
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post

     

    Ah, the surest way to profit: Android!

     

     

    Wait, that's not right...




    Unfortunately, the choices aren't great. The easy path is certainly Android if you're a third party manufacturer (especially one trying to recover from having a good portion of your company purchased by Microsoft). The downside is that there likely isn't a whole lot of profit potential. It's interesting that they're just coming up with the design and then licensing that out. That may limit the risk and be a good way to go.

     

    I think it will be hard to create a complete OS and ecosystem from nothing and compete for acceptance in the marketplace with iOS, Android and Windows Phone (even the latter is finding it hard to make ground on the other two and Microsoft is well established). The big thing in establishing a new alternative is getting developers on board. Here, I believe you either have to show massive potential for profit or make the development so easy or such a pleasure that developers want to do it even if there isn't a lot of profit potential. Also not easy.

     

    So ... Android. That's probably what Nokia should have done from the start and maybe they wouldn't have been dissected by Microsoft.

  • Reply 5 of 53
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,309member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post

     

    Ah, the surest way to profit: Android!

     

     

    Wait, that's not right...


    There are still fans of large sensor imagers in smartphones, and I'm assuming that Nokia will own this very tiny niche market again now that MS has stated that it will abandon it. At least it will own it until Apple implements some of its multi-imager and folded optic technology and patents.

     

    Other than that, not seeing what Nokia will bring to the table to set them apart from the other Android and ASOP builders.

  • Reply 6 of 53
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,305member
    What did Microsoft buy if Nokia can just go back to building phones once again? Of course why would Nokia want to get back into building Android phones? There's no money to be made with Android!!! Unless they plan to do what they were doing with their dumb phones. Selling Millions and barely making any profit.
  • Reply 7 of 53
    hydrogenhydrogen Posts: 314member

    errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum ....

  • Reply 8 of 53
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JBDragon View Post



    What did Microsoft buy if Nokia can just go back to building phones once again? Of course why would Nokia want to get back into building Android phones? There's no money to be made with Android!!! Unless they plan to do what they were doing with their dumb phones. Selling Millions and barely making any profit.



    Good question.  If there is no money to be made from Android phones, why are there so many companies making them?  Why haven't they all stopped and done something else?

     

    Cannacord seems to be the only company providing an analysis which attributes 93% of smartphone profits to Apple.  Given that there are so many companies making smartphones I find it rather odd that they would happily keep making losses, year after year.  Perhaps The manufacturers know something Cannacord doesn't.

     

    Interestingly, Nokia's share price has doubled in the last two years.

  • Reply 9 of 53
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    cnocbui wrote: »

    Good question.  If there is no money to be made from Android phones, why are there so many companies making them?  Why haven't they all stopped and done something else?

    The logical answer would be that they aren't all losing money on them.
  • Reply 10 of 53
    revenantrevenant Posts: 621member

    well, something has got to work. and we all learned that copying apple comes with little to no consequences. (i am not saying that their phones are copying- just saying that it is apparently a safe road to travel if they want to make their own phones again).

  • Reply 11 of 53
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    I am not sure why any company would want to jump in to the Cell phone business, either you are in the race to the bottom or you have to figure out how to cut into a large portion of Apples business. As of right now Apple users are not looking for a better solution, as most would agree the iphone and iOS does 90% of when most all consumers with money want. It was not like when Apple jumped in, when consumers were all looking for a better solution than what was available at the time.

    Even BB, Microsoft/Nokia and Motorola still sell some phones, but not enough to make a real profit. I can not wait to the summer when he hear if Samsung is able to sell any of the S6 and turn their profits around. I still betting by June Samsung go for a BOGO deal to get phones moving.
  • Reply 12 of 53
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post





    The logical answer would be that they aren't all losing money on them.



    That's rather what I have been thinking for some time.

  • Reply 13 of 53
    cincyteecincytee Posts: 403member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MessagePad2100 View Post

     

    Companies that partner with Microsoft seem to end up dying or getting majorly screwed. Apple somehow survived and still has Office made for it.


     

    There was a time when it was pretty touch-and-go, you'll recall.

  • Reply 14 of 53
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 1,999member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post





    The logical answer would be that they aren't all losing money on them.



    No, not ALL of them are losing money.  But most of them aren't making very much money, and are subsidizing the business through their other divisions.  Or, in the pursuit of market share, they ARE losing money on many of the devices, and just a few of the devices make money.  (Think the low end "good enough" phones as losing money or breaking even, and the high end phones being where the profit comes from for the company, but per-unit the profit is low even if high on the high end phones, as it gets spread over all their units, the most of which are low end "good enough" phones).

  • Reply 15 of 53
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,309member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cnocbui View Post

     



    That's rather what I have been thinking for some time.


    Being as though most of the assembly costs occur in China, and employment of masses of people is a benefit to the state, profit has less importance than the growth and stability of the company. That's why Xiaomi, for instance, can get by with a couple of percent of profit; it's all about growth and market position.

     

    But stating that Apple isn't deriving the masses of profit would be inaccurate as well; Apple operates in a publicly traded environment where they are required by law to provide data to stockholders.

  • Reply 16 of 53
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    I think the best Nokia can hope for now is to license any of their valuable IP.
  • Reply 17 of 53
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    For companies like Samsung, just keeping a finger in the market is enough since profit is covered by its diversified industries. For Google, it is about driving eyeballs to their real profit center, advertising and selling personal data.
  • Reply 18 of 53
     
    Nokia made a new smart phone,
    And, 'round the world she'd whisk.
    Wasn't she a silly girl
    Her little * ?
  • Reply 19 of 53
    Off topic a bit... There is story about Samsung removing its logo from S6 phones and marketing in Japan in an attempt to build market share. Will AI write about this major Samsung defeat in Japan or be silent? Time will tell.
  • Reply 20 of 53
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Good luck Nokia! Let's hope they can build themselves out of the Stephen Elop-shaped hole they've been left in. Not sure that Android is the best horse to tie the cart to, but what other viable choices are there? Tizen?
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