amby

As Nokia has a major strategy shift ongoing, there is hardly enough baseline published to confidently say that there was a mistake made. In this list therefore I avoid wishful thinking like 8 MP cameras, iPhone killers or “releasing less devices”, which might not serve Nokia’s strategy.

Here is my take on the top 10 mistakes – in no particular order -  Nokia made during 2008:

1. Releasing the N96 at all

How could releasing a new device with impressive feature list be a mistake, you say? If it’s a failship, as the N96 proved to be, actually hurting loyalty rates in the most cut-throat segment (smartphones), taking important resources from other N-Series releases, then Nokia would have been better off not releasing it.

• Why the N96 went back into the box; SloanB
• The Nokia N96: Face the task; Mobile Industry Review
• Joy and Sorrow of Using the N96; Dotsisx, Symbian-Guru

2. Ignoring Download! completely

When Apple has announced the App Store, it was easy to dismiss the “innovation”. The Download! catalog is present on about 100 million Nokia devices and there are some good findings there. I’m not particulary fond of iFart (iPhone) apps, so I don’t mind a hand-selected crop of good apps – but I also don’t understand why Nokia has not increased the number of apps available through Download! during the half-year it had as advantage. It is also a question, why Nokia has not adopted its N-Gage game system to applications.

• iPhone App Store is everything Download! should be; Symbian-Guru
• The mobile application store phenomenon; Vision Mobile
• Nokia Up! gateway to all updates for your phone

3. Waiting for Ovi to be ready

I’ve mentioned this before, but here it is again: there is no such thing as “being ready” in web services. You start with a core system (which IS Ovi Sync), gain userbase in the millions and announce the next version or next feature in 3 months to those millions. If Music, N-Gage and various services are not under the umbrella – no problem. They could be in one of the quarterly cycles.

• Ovi – behind closed doors?; Snowy, Symbian Freak
• Oh. My God! 300 million Ovi users are coming
• How to save Nokia’s Ovi from dying

4. Being half year late

During 2008 it was quite visible the Nokia is actually half-year late with everything: the N96, the 5800, Ovi Sync, N97, Comes with Music all arrived on average 6 month later than the usual product releases. N96 took 7 months delay, the Tube should have come before the iPhone in July (just check the Batman product placement), Ovi single sign-on was for September (still not working for Music or N-Gage), N97 and Comes with Music in main countries for Christmas. There is not much to say about this, except that 6 months is 2 web cycles or half of a major product cycle.

This might be changing quickly, as the N97 seems to be close to release – we might not need to wait until June 2009.

5. Incompatible Music Store, Files and Maps 3

Lets rush past supporting both Mac and Windows on the client-side, as it is indeed a matter of strategy and market share. My point here is that web services should be browser and platform independent, which nor Music Store, neither Maps 3 beta is. None of the successful web services (e.g Facebook, Google Maps, Amazon) require plug-ins in your browser to access the common functionality. You might have extra plug-ins for browsers to provide extras, but not for the main service – as the installation or incompatibility turns 50-75% of users away from the web.

• Maps 3 is an ugly fail; Symbian-Guru

6. Not innovating a new market out of thin air

Let’s be honest here: the smartphone market is being swiped out by new players like Apple, Google, RIM. Nokia might stick to its No. 1. position for the coming years, but without an extreme change in strategy, it will lose to experienced software companies. Following Nokia’s a-phone-for-every-segment strategy means that it will always lose segments to specialty players – which is fine. What’s not good however, is that Nokia for years now not opening new segments on its own, only following. After missing the clam-shell and slider craze, Nokia has also missed the touchscreen and mobile game craze. So, why not come out with something new and leave others to follow – as it happened during Nokia’s golden times?

• Innovation and maturity; Symbian Guru
• Niche vs. mass-market; Nokia Conversations
• I’m ready, beam me up, Nokia!
• Is Nokia innovating?

7. Losing focus in marketing

Reading this list of mistakes, you might have the feeling, that Nokia is doomed. It is not. Just in 2008 it came out with huge innovations and it still maintains advantages, which nobody is able to replicate – but is still going mum about it. Where are the “This is how you copy and paste” ads, the clear “all you can eat music service for one year – and you keep all after” messages, the “buying music over the air” or “synchronization without cables” demos? Nokia’s marketing has to identify its strengths and also play on the weaknesses of its competitors.

• Why isn’t this a Nokia ad?; Symbian Guru
• They couldn’t make it more confusing; Nokia Conversations

8. The concept of many Nokia voices

Nokia repeatedly prouds itself as a company of many voices, concurrent and competing ideas. Unfortunately, the side-effect of this multi-voice approach is shouting in the face of consumers. The Nokia 5800 is released without Ovi support, the N96 is not able to run many Nokia developed betas, N-Gage is an afterthought on devices and best practices (technologies) are very slow to replicate to other parts of devices or software. And lets just mention the overlapping offering of Plazes-viNe-Friend View-Maps or Files-Share-Mosh-Download! to demonstrate the noise, which so many voices generate.

9. Quality, Attention to detail or Right at First time

One very disturbing detail about Nokia in 2008 was that it is still making the mistakes of 2007. It still releases the N96 with slow firmware and borderline battery capacity, Ovi Sync with Calendar backup not working and viNe as an incomplete alpha service. There is a very strong shift in the market, as some companies demonstrate that it is possible to get first releases close to perfection. As the economic downturn makes consumers taking less risk, it turns attention to quality also.

• Don’t use the general public as guinea pigs; All About Symbian
• The funniest Nokia joke ever
• Let me v(h)ine a little bit

10. Ecosystem

I wanted to say, that Nokia is ignoring the ecosystem of its devices too much, but the recent news about the Philips cooperation and the N79 Active release shows that it is already changing. So, let’s not cry about the past, but see what was expected for 2008 – which is already happening now:

• Your Music, where you want it; Nokia Conversations
• N79 Active videos; Nokia Conversations

Conclusion

Comparing the two top 10 lists of important news and mistakes, I have to say, the outlook is much better than the mistakes made during 2008. While my view is currently limited by the missed opportunities in my newest phone – the 5800 -, getting something nice to say about Nokia’s future took considerable less time (about half), than finding enough mistakes for the top 10 list. From my side, I’ve spent enough time to recount the past and from now on will concentrate on a better future instead :-)

Nokia, this was your automated wake up call service.