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chanj
The community perception of Microsoft Windows product may not have a +ve impact ...
goafrit
Nokia has only Lumia now - Mr Elop days are being counted. I do not think Nokia ...
Nokia bleeds $1.38 billion in Q4; sales drop 21 percent
Sylvie Barak
1/26/2012 9:22 PM EST
A good target for acquisition?
Gold, meanwhile, pointed out that Nokia may not even survive if it continued to hemorrhage funds, citing the firm as a possible candidate for acquisition.
“Unlike RIM, who everyone beats up on, Nokia is actually losing money. RIM is still making a profit, Nokia is making a loss and I worry about them,” Gold said. Indeed, RIM sold 14 times as many BlackBerry devices as Nokia sold phones this quarter.
Gold said he saw Nokia as a possible acquisition target, potentially for an Asian company like Huawei, ZTE or Lenovo.
“They’re not hurting for cash and by buying Nokia they’d be getting themselves an install base and distribution channels in Europe and South America,” he said.
Despite Microsoft having invested significantly in Nokia, Gold doesn’t believe the software giant would buy the phone firm if it came down to it.
“It’s never good to compete with your own channel,” he said, pointing out that Microsoft would make itself no friends with its other partner OEMs like Samsung and HTC. “That would be like Intel buying a PC manufacturer,” he added.
Ultimately, however, whether Nokia gets acquired or goes it alone, the firm is rapidly running out of time to figure things out.
Gold, meanwhile, pointed out that Nokia may not even survive if it continued to hemorrhage funds, citing the firm as a possible candidate for acquisition.
“Unlike RIM, who everyone beats up on, Nokia is actually losing money. RIM is still making a profit, Nokia is making a loss and I worry about them,” Gold said. Indeed, RIM sold 14 times as many BlackBerry devices as Nokia sold phones this quarter.
Gold said he saw Nokia as a possible acquisition target, potentially for an Asian company like Huawei, ZTE or Lenovo.
“They’re not hurting for cash and by buying Nokia they’d be getting themselves an install base and distribution channels in Europe and South America,” he said.
Despite Microsoft having invested significantly in Nokia, Gold doesn’t believe the software giant would buy the phone firm if it came down to it.
“It’s never good to compete with your own channel,” he said, pointing out that Microsoft would make itself no friends with its other partner OEMs like Samsung and HTC. “That would be like Intel buying a PC manufacturer,” he added.
Ultimately, however, whether Nokia gets acquired or goes it alone, the firm is rapidly running out of time to figure things out.
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kdboyce
1/27/2012 12:55 AM EST
It is a telling comment that the analyst thinks that an Asian company could buy out Nokia. While I agree they probably could, the fact that no one else anywhere else probably would is a sad commentary on how the mobile phone industry has gone in less than 5 years.
Motorola, largely credited with making cell phone technology a reality, is now part of Google. For Nokia Mobile phones(who really dominated the market for so long) to disappear into the bowels of another company would continue the object lesson - innovate or die!
Easier said than done.
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prabhakar_deosthali
1/27/2012 5:43 AM EST
The same is true for RIM which is also going down fast - unable to respond to the market forces.
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t.alex
1/27/2012 7:07 PM EST
Windows Phone still can't help. This is damn worrying.
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Sanjib.Acharya
1/28/2012 9:16 AM EST
Betting on Windows phone will dominate over the Windows phone from Samsung and HTC is too much of optimism for Nokia...it is too late now...Nokia needs a breakthrough which would make the company to turn around as it was done by Steve Jobs for Apple.
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sige
1/28/2012 9:20 AM EST
And ST Ericsson is betting on Nokia to sell a lot more Windows phones...bad assumption...
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goafrit
1/28/2012 12:45 PM EST
Nokia has only Lumia now - Mr Elop days are being counted. I do not think Nokia can recover.
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chanj
1/31/2012 7:00 PM EST
The community perception of Microsoft Windows product may not have a +ve impact to Nokia. However, having spent a couple of hours in Microsoft store to play Lumia 710, I am impressed with the overall quality and the stability of the product. I can't wait to see Lumia 800 and Lumia 900. I believe the alliance of Nokia and Microsoft will have a chance in the smartphone market. Nonetheless, my concern is whether Nokia is able to come up a couple differentiators over the other Windows phone maker. Without them, Nokia is just like other players - HTC, Samsung, etc.
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