Nokia stock nosedives as Apple gains on market leader
Shares of Nokia tumbled this week, as the world's largest handset maker believes its market share will recede over the next year, while competitor Apple sees continued growth with the iPhone platform.
Analysts said that Nokia Oyj would not be able to keep up with Apple without an App Store-like alternative. As a result, Bloomberg said, Nokia's stock took its biggest hit in five years, dropping 15 percent, or $8.6 billion in value.
Though Nokia isn't as big a player in the U.S. as Apple, Research in Motion, or even Motorola, the global company commands a majority of the smartphone and cellphone market worldwide. Nokia estimated its smartphone market share was 41 percent for the second quarter of 2009, while the overall market share was 38 percent. In 2005, Nokia held 62 percent of the smartphone market.
As Nokia loses some ground, Apple continues to lead the industry in year-over-year growth.
To address investor concerns, Nokia announced Thursday its response to the App Store: Symbian Horizon.
"We're starting small and can only work with a limited number of apps initially," the site reads, "so sign up now to be one of the first apps to make it big via Symbian Horizon."
As Nokia struggles to retain its stature, a rumor emerged this week that the handset maker could buy rival manufacturer Palm. This as market watchers like Barron's told investors it was time to dump their Nokia stock.
Saying the sale of Nokia shares is an "easy call," Barron's said the company should be dominating the cell phone market, not losing ground.
"Nokia could eventually turn the discussion away from snazzy colors and back to the functions of a phone," the story reads. "The smartphone market was Nokia's game to lose, in other words. How humbling, then, for the company to see its buzz usurped by Apple's iPhone, Palm's Pre smartphone, and the latest models of BlackBerry from Research in Motion."
Analysts said that Nokia Oyj would not be able to keep up with Apple without an App Store-like alternative. As a result, Bloomberg said, Nokia's stock took its biggest hit in five years, dropping 15 percent, or $8.6 billion in value.
Though Nokia isn't as big a player in the U.S. as Apple, Research in Motion, or even Motorola, the global company commands a majority of the smartphone and cellphone market worldwide. Nokia estimated its smartphone market share was 41 percent for the second quarter of 2009, while the overall market share was 38 percent. In 2005, Nokia held 62 percent of the smartphone market.
As Nokia loses some ground, Apple continues to lead the industry in year-over-year growth.
To address investor concerns, Nokia announced Thursday its response to the App Store: Symbian Horizon.
"We're starting small and can only work with a limited number of apps initially," the site reads, "so sign up now to be one of the first apps to make it big via Symbian Horizon."
As Nokia struggles to retain its stature, a rumor emerged this week that the handset maker could buy rival manufacturer Palm. This as market watchers like Barron's told investors it was time to dump their Nokia stock.
Saying the sale of Nokia shares is an "easy call," Barron's said the company should be dominating the cell phone market, not losing ground.
"Nokia could eventually turn the discussion away from snazzy colors and back to the functions of a phone," the story reads. "The smartphone market was Nokia's game to lose, in other words. How humbling, then, for the company to see its buzz usurped by Apple's iPhone, Palm's Pre smartphone, and the latest models of BlackBerry from Research in Motion."
Comments
The N97 is being pounded in reviews, and in the forums.
One report even said that Nokia is having "a Motorola moment".
They are in big trouble.
Hardly surprising.
Wow. Yesterday Microsoft, today Nokia. Apple does make waves...
Don't forget, they "wrecked" AT&T a few days ago...
It's interesting that reports are coming out that say the Nokia has no products that compete with Apple, RIM, Palm, and Even one new Toshiba phone.
The N97 is being pounded in reviews, and in the forums.
One report even said that Nokia is having "a Motorola moment".
They are in big trouble.
From what I?m told, the N97 ?feels? as fast as the 3GS which is liekly in many tasks considering it?s not using the hefty OS X, but it still has half the 3G radio bandwidth capability with only 3.6Mbps, an ARM11(ARM v6) at 434MHz with 128MB RAM. For this to be Nokia?s flapship smartphone it seems remiss to not to at leastoffer the Cortex A8 (ARM v7), which adds power and battery performance. I hope they are working on something great over in Finland. I?ll be watching their news seeing if they look like a good company to invest in.
One report even said that Nokia is having "a Motorola moment".
They are in big trouble.
You snooze, you loose.
And to think solipism was suggesting I buy a Nokia because of their great cameras instead of my amazing new iPhone?
He is just negative about everything Apple--there are some like that on these boards...
From what I’m told, the N97 “feels” as fast as the 3GS which is liekly in many tasks considering it’s not using the hefty OS X, but it still has half the 3G radio bandwidth capability with only 3.6Mbps, an ARM11(ARM v6) at 434MHz with 128MB RAM. For this to be Nokia’s flapship smartphone it seems remiss to not to at leastoffer the Cortex A8 (ARM v7), which adds power and battery performance. I hope they are working on something great over in Finland. I’ll be watching their news seeing if they look like a good company to invest in.
I don't know who told you that, but reviews are saying that the phone is slow, feels slow, is choppy, and is underpowered.
Apple abandoned the Arm 11, Palm didn't bother with it for the Pre, but Nokia, for it's latest, most expensive Superphone uses it at about 435 MHz.
That's being said is an insult.
The "touch" screen also still relies on a resistive panel. It's said to be insensitive. One reviewer showed a video of him trying to get the thing to respond, and ended up dropping it on to the table in disgust.
The keyboard is being criticized for having the space "key" at the left side of the keyboard rather than below. A lot of odd problems.
Also, Symbian now seems to be a paraphrasing of the old Win 3.1 with DOS, rather than a system that's designed to do what it should. at least a couple of reviewers said that Nokia should abandon it, and there are hints that nokia may be looking to Android, or some other Linux based system.
Read some of the reviews.
He is just negative about everything Apple--there are some like that on these boards...
You know what I'm saying?
And to think solipism was suggesting I buy a Nokia because of their great cameras instead of my amazing new iPhone?
And to think that this article has anything to do with Nokia’s cameras, your constant trumpeting of how infallible Verizon is, while stating that AT&T sucks everywhere for everybody, and that the iPhone camera sucks. All of which are reasons I told you to buy a Nokia phone and not the iPhone. Better that Nokia forums cater to your bitchfest that good folk here at AI. In comparison to most Nokia phones the iPhone camera is still lacking with only 3Mpx, of which you stated that 5Mpx was the minimum the iPhone should have.
And to think that this article has anything to do with Nokia’s cameras, your constant trumpeting of how infallible Verizon is, while stating that AT&T sucks everywhere for everybody, and that the iPhone camera sucks. In comparison to most Nokia phones the iPhone camera is still lacking with only 3Mpx and the fact that with comments like the one I quoted you are trying to throw off these threads. All of which are reasons I told you to buy a Nokia phone and not the iPhone. Better that Nokia forums cater to your bitchfest that good folk at AI.
All right- enough. You can't take a joke now?
SORRY.
(btw- I love my 3Gs video making, sharp picture taking 3.0 Mp camera- for the record)
Let's all get along. Even Teckstud likes his iPhone. There just might be a God after all.
Anyway, seriously, Nokia's been asleep at the wheel for years now. This is what they get.
As for Motorola . . . they should just go dark for a year and completely rethink their strategy. Reshuffle management, or bring someone in who knows what they're doing. There's no point in "me too" phone rollouts.
They will probably end up getting Dell-ed by companies like Apple.
Nokia is today in the same situation that an Ericsson was 10 years ago: still riding high, but with major signs of strain from lack of ability to innovate.
They will probably end up getting Dell-ed by companies like Apple.
They might, but Nokia still has a rabid following in many countries that I don?t think will dwindle quickly like other vendors would. Even Apple during its dark years still maintained a loyal following. I?m hoping that the N97 is just a placeholder for a new flagship device that will really be a true competitor in the modern media-phone market.
One thing I really like about Nokia, and thus wish them to succeed, is that they have made honest statements as to what their faults are. You just don?t get that from most companies.
They might, but Nokia still has a rabid following in many countries that I don?t think will dwindle quickly like other vendors would. Even Apple during its dark years still maintained a loyal following. I?m hoping that the N97 is just a placeholder for a new flagship device that will really be a true competitor in the modern media-phone market.
One thing I really like about Nokia, and thus wish them to succeed, is that they have made honest statements as to what their faults are. You just don?t get that from most companies.
They said what they had to. The same thing Dell is saying. The economy is bad, blah, blah, blah.
Wow. Yesterday Microsoft, today Nokia. Apple does make waves...
Tomorrow Google. ;-) More likely we'll need to stay-tuned on that one.
One report even said that Nokia is having "a Motorola moment".
Ouch. Ow. Ow. This is shorthand for "completely lost and clueless."
They might, but Nokia still has a rabid following in many countries that I don?t think will dwindle quickly like other vendors would. Even Apple during its dark years still maintained a loyal following. I?m hoping that the N97 is just a placeholder for a new flagship device that will really be a true competitor in the modern media-phone market.
One thing I really like about Nokia, and thus wish them to succeed, is that they have made honest statements as to what their faults are. You just don?t get that from most companies.
It is (perhaps 'was' is the operative word) no doubt a great company.
But they underestimated Apple. Just as, I believe, RIM continues to do today.
I (vaguely) recall that that Nokia shrugged off the iPhone when originally introduced, with a somewhat condescending view along the lines of (I am paraphrasing) "Yeah, a cute device that can play some music, but 2G!? What does Apple know about this space...."
From what I?m told, the N97 ?feels? as fast as the 3GS which is liekly in many tasks considering it?s not using the hefty OS X, but it still has half the 3G radio bandwidth capability with only 3.6Mbps, an ARM11(ARM v6) at 434MHz with 128MB RAM. For this to be Nokia?s flapship smartphone it seems remiss to not to at leastoffer the Cortex A8 (ARM v7), which adds power and battery performance. I hope they are working on something great over in Finland. I?ll be watching their news seeing if they look like a good company to invest in.
Seriously, I have been testing the N97 for almost three weeks for a German paper. I edited the review twice to remove appropriate strong language before submitting it, and even after my self-censorship the responsible editor was giving me a strange look ("that bad?"). Nothing about this device feels anywhere as fast as the 3GS, actually a lot of things feel slower than the 3G. The build quality is OK, not as good as the iPhone (far from it), but light-years ahead of the Pre and the keyboard is quite good. The real disaster no. 1 is the OS and their App Store copy is disaster no. 2. If this is all the world's leading cell phone maker can do, they should go out of business. The OS is unresponsive and downright illogical, once you depart the home screen, it is one unholy mess. And the Ovi Store, well, it's even messier. A wild mix of apps, wallpapers, sound files and media content with no structure or style. Disgusting would be an understatement. Honestly, I think we will see a decent Android smartphone by Motorola long before Nokia finally decides to drop this Symbian crap (or at least use it for dumbphones only). Symbian is hopeless.