Mobile Phone Industry: Can Nokia nudge its way back into the smartphone market?

Even if the smartphone world is now officially dominated by iOS and Android, there could still be a niche for Nokia.

The latest Kantar Worldpanel data, published Wednesday, shows the iPhone 7 is the world's most popular handset; that Samsung is still the biggest handset maker; and Android still dominates the operating system landscape around the world. In Europe, 74.3% of phones run Android, 83.2% in China, 58.2% in the USA and 52.6% in Australia. Only in Japan is iOS more popular (49.5% verses 49%).

Yet, according to Kantar, the two marques that essentially created the smartphone market, Nokia and BlackBerry, could still find a new niche in this duopoly.

"February's Mobile World Congress 2017 demonstrated the true state of the market, with re-emerging brand names Nokia and BlackBerry capturing a lot of attention, but now operating on Android rather than on their own legacy operating systems," said Lauren Guenveur, Global Consumer Insight Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. "We witnessed something of a throwback to times past with the new Nokia 3310 feature phone, an updated version of the iconic Nokia look, plus several new Nokia Android smartphones being marketed by HMD, now the exclusive licensee of the Nokia brand."

Indeed, the fondness with which Nokia is still regarded, particularly in Europe could well see the brand re-establish itself among consumers who would otherwise be considering a mid-range Samsung handset.

"HMD Global's focus on revitalizing the Nokia name seems concentrated on quality for cost. Its three new Android phones are priced at EUR 229 or less, with Android Nougat, Google Assistant, aluminum construction, and otherwise solid mid-range specs," said Dominic Sunnebo, Business Unit Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe.

In other words, they could be very popular in "price-conscious markets like Italy and Spain," said Sunnebo, Business Unit Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe.

Read more: Can Nokia nudge its way back into the smartphone market?

Computer Industry: Apple has set up a secret office in Berlin to 'cherrypick' mapping engineers from HERE

Apple has hired at least half a dozen employees from Here for a Berlin-based Apple Maps team, according to LinkedIn, but the true figure is likely to be somewhat higher.

A source, who wished to remain anonymous, said that Apple strategically moved in on Here's talent as the mapping company was passed from Nokia to Microsoft to the German automotive group.

"It's a simple story: Here was in disarray after Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia," said the source, who works in the Berlin tech scene. "Apple saw the opportunity and opened an office in Berlin, specifically to siphon Geo Information Systems (GIS) talent."

The person added: "Three people independently complained to me that Apple opened an office in Berlin specifically to cherrypick at Here." This claim was backed up by another source on the ground in Berlin.

Here, which provides mapping data, software and services to the automotive, consumer and enterprise sectors, was "bleeding talent" as Microsoft's deal with the German car consortium went through, the source said. "Things are getting a bit better now, but GIS talent is rare."

Read more: Apple has set up a secret office in Berlin to 'cherrypick' mapping engineers from Here

Windows Phone takes more of Europe's smartphone market amid signs of a Nokia comeback - by Joe best

As you might expect, new research out today shows that Android is Europe's favourite smartphone OS by a country mile. But, further down the table, Windows Phone is turning into a serious contender.

According to figures out today from researchers Kantar WorldPanel ComTech, Android featured on just over 70 percent of smartphones sold in the three months to August across Europe's five biggest markets: Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Equally unsurprisingly, iOS is in second position with 16 percent of the smartphone market in Europe – a year on year rise of around two percentage points for both OSes.
Windows Phone meanwhile continues to grow its share in the five countries, hitting 9.2 percent – around double its 5.1 percent share for the same period last year.

The jump has been fuelled by significant gains in the three major European markets: France, Germany and Great Britain. In the latter, its share has risen from 4.5 percent a year ago to 12 percent today, while in Germany it's grown from 3.8 percent to 8.8 percent – the first time it's hit double digit share in either country.
In Germany, that puts Windows Phone only one percentage point behind iOS in market share.

"Windows Phone's latest wave of growth is being driven by Nokia's expansion into the low and mid range market with the Lumia 520 and 620 handsets. These models are hitting the sweet spot with 16 to 24 year-olds and 35 to 49 year-olds, two key groups that look for a balance of price and functionality in their smartphone," Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said in a statement.

And, despite recent turbulence and a proposed €5.4bn takeover by Microsoft, Windows Phone's main hardware champion Nokia is growing its own market share across some of Europe's biggest markets. (Nokia accounted for four in five of all Windows Phone device sales across the five markets.)

For the three months to the end of August, Nokia bagged 7.8 percent of all smartphone sales, up from 6.9 percent a year ago, inching up on third-placed Sony, whose share stands at 8.2 percent, a slight rise on a year ago. LG is also seeing something of a comeback, increasing its European share to 6.1 percent from 2.1 percent a year ago.

Read more: Windows Phone takes more of Europe's smartphone market amid signs of a Nokia comeback | ZDNet

Smartphones: Huawei's Smartphone Sales Eclipse Nokia, HTC, RIM - by Anton Troianovski

China’s Huawei Technologies Co. has jumped ahead of Nokia Corp., HTC Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd. in the world-wide smartphone race, but steep challenges remain for the telecommunications firm as it pursues a bigger role around the world.

Huawei, a Shenzhen-based manufacturer of telecom equipment that has aggressively pushed into the consumer market in recent years, shipped 10.8 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, ranking it the third-largest seller in the world, with a nearly 5 percent market share, according to researcher International Data Corp.

Read more: Huawei's Smartphone Sales Eclipse Nokia, RIM - Anton Troianovski - Mobile - AllThingsD

Cellular Phone Industry - Finland: Nokia topseller Lumia920 turns company Q4 performance beyond expectations

Nokia Lumia920

Finnish electronics giant Nokia has announced that it saw a better than expected fourth quarter results, largely thanks to stronger sales of its Lumia model smartphone.


Figures released by the Espoo-based firm on Thursday (10 January) revealed that more than 86 million devices were sold over the period, with the Windows Mobile-based Lumia returning to profitability as a strong performer with 4.4 million units sold.

Likewise, Nokia Siemens Networks saw exceptionally good sales, driving the third straight quarter of underlying profitability.

Nokia shares climbed 3.4 percent to EUR 31.88 on the back of Thursday’s news, pushing the stock to the upper levels of the FTSE Eurofirst 300 leader board.

Read more: Nokia Q4 performance exceeds expectations | IceNews - Daily News

Finland: smart phones - 'Troubled' Nokia says latest Lumia devices 'not final throw of dice'

Nokia’s senior Vice President of Smart Devices Jo Harlow has said the new Lumia phones were not the only chance the company had to prove it could still compete with rivals such as Apple and Samsung.

Harlow claimed that the Nokia’s latest launched Lumia devices powered by Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 OS are not a final throw of the dice, despite stock markets’ negative reaction.  “This is a step in the journey. This characterisation that it is the last step is not reality,” the Telegraph quoted her, as saying.

“These are two devices; they’re not all the devices that we’ll base on Windows Phone 8. This is our strategy and it’s a journey; there’s not one moment in time that defines everything,” she added.

Read more: 'Troubled' Nokia says latest Lumia devices 'not final throw of dice'

Finland: Nokia’s Lumia 920 and 820: How they look, work and feel

Nokia launched two smartphones yesterday — the Lumia 920 and the Lumia 820, both of which will run on Windows 8 OS. So what are the key features of the two smartphones? We take a quick look.
First, let’s look at the technical specifications of both smartphones.

Nokia Lumia 920: This is, of course, Nokia’s flagship device. As far as technical specifications go, this has a curved 4.5-inch PureMotion HD+ screen. A dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU with 1 GB RAM, 32 GB disk space and 7 GB storage in the cloud with SkyDrive for users.

Nokia Lumia 820 : This is the less pricier version. The smartphone has polycarbonate unibody with a 4.3 inch screen. It is also NFC enabled with an 8 megapixel PureView branded camera. This smartphone will also support wireless charging. The 1GB RAM and dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor will ensure that there is little lag. It has 8GB space (expandable upto 32 GB) and 7 GB in SkyDrive.

Read more: Nokia’s Lumia 920 and 820: How they look, work and feel | Firstpost

Credit Cards: soon to become obsolete with the introduction of NFC enabled smartphones

Today, more than 10,000 credit card transactions take place every single second -- and the total value of goods and services purchased with them totals more than euro 1.92 trillion ($2.5 trillion)  per year. But the domination of the plastic credit and debit card might soon be over.

Given that we now use smartphones to do everything from checking the weather to sending emails to watching YouTube videos to getting directions to making restaurant reservations, it only makes sense that we would use them to pay for things, too.

With so-called "near field communication" (NFC) technology we may soon be able to do just that.

This technology allows two NFC-enabled devices placed within a few inches of each other to wirelessly swap data -- meaning you can simply touch your NFC-enabled smartphone to an NFC reader any time you need to pay your bar tab, buy a plane ticket, or even get groceries.

This revolution in payments is already beginning to take shape. In Britain mobile provider Orange has already teamed up with a number of companies including MasterCard and Barclaycard to offer NFC payment options at roughly 50,000 locations around Britain -- including fast-food chains like McDonald's and Subway.

Nokia, Sprint, and Research In Motion are all reported to be working on building NFC-enabled smartphones -- and it is widely rumored that NFC technology may well be a prominent feature of the next iPhone.

Imagine how our daily routines will change if everything works out like the technology's supporters hope it will.

• We'll never have to worry about feeding coins into parking meters or vending machines ever again.
• We won't need tickets to board a train or get into a ball game.
• We won't be asked for our license and registration when we get pulled over, a passport when we cross the border, or an ID when we go to the gym.
• We won't use keys to unlock our cars, our offices, or even our front door.
• Stores and restaurants will no longer give us printed receipts, and business cards will become a thing of the past.

Unfortunately there is one problem with this new technology. What happens to the older folks who can't use a smart phone for a variety of reasons and poor people who can't afford them ? 

EU-Digest

Mobile Phones: Nokia unveils 41 MP camera phone

Struggling cellphone maker Nokia Corp. has unveiled two new handsets that it hopes will revive its fortunes at the start of world's largest mobile phone trade show on Monday.

Chief executive Stephen Elop told reporters at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that the new phones — a low-price $254 smartphone that runs on Windows software and a handset with a high-resolution 41 megapixel camera — demonstrate "the actions necessary to improve the fortunes of Nokia."

"With great products for consumers, I think the rest will fall into place," Elop said.

For more: Nokia unveils 41 MP camera phone, $254 handset - Business - CBC News

Nokia ends phone assembly in Europe after 4,000 job cuts in Finland, Mexico, Hungary - by Matti Huuhtanen

Nokia Corp. plans to stop assembling cell phones in Europe by year-end as it shifts production to Asia and will cut another 4,000 jobs, its latest attempts to cushion itself from stiff competition in the smartphone sector.

The Finnish company said Wednesday it will make the new job cuts at three plants in Finland, Mexico and Hungary this year as it reorganizes global manufacturing operations to compete better with the likes of Apple Inc.'s iPhone and handsets using Google Inc.'s Android operating software.

The cuts come on top of nearly 10,000 layoffs announced last year.

For more: Nokia ends phone assembly in Europe after 4,000 job cuts in Finland, Mexico, Hungary - wdbj7.com

Finland: Nokia prospects brighten as chairman search narrows - by Tarmo Virki and Jonathan Standing

Struggling phone maker Nokia Oyj basked in brightening prospects for its much-hyped Windows phone on Thursday as it prepared to strengthen the hand of new boss Stephen Elop by replacing its old-guard chairman.

Shares in the Finnish company, which has been losing ground to rivals in the fast moving market for "smart" mobile phones, topped the gainers board in the FTSEurofirst 300 index, standing 4.8 percent higher at 4.076 euros by 1415 GMT.

Encouraging December figures from a Taiwan-based supplier of the phones provided fresh impetus for the stock, along with broker upgrades citing an improving outlook for the software tie-up with Microsoft on which it gambled its future last year.

Compal Communications, a provider of Nokia handsets, said December sales grew 275 percent from a year earlier to NT$4.51 billion ($149 million) from 1.2 billion, according to a Taiwan Stock Exchange website posting.

For more: Nokia prospects brighten as chairman search narrows - OrlandoSentinel.com

Nokia E7 is now available in retail stores across Europe

Well, Nokia has made available its E7 handsets across retail stores in Europe. However, the handset is not yet available in US, the country wherein Nokia so far has three wireless partners: Verizon wireless, T-Mobile and AT&T, for it to launch its handsets with there.

A touch phone with full side out slide full qwerty keyboard, the handset features 4 inch ClearBlack display, built in VPN for internet access, 16 GB on board memory, 8 MP built in camera, A-GPS support, Instant messenger [supports Gmail, Yahoo mail, Windows Live, Hotmail, and other POP/MAP service], integrated social network, up to 430 hours of standby time and up to 5 hours of talk time under GSM coverage.

For more: Nokia E7 is now available in retail stores across Europe | Gadgets Reviews

iLawsuit? Nokia Sues Apple in European Courts

Nokia has filed for patent infringement against Apple in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, claiming ownership of more smartphone fundamentals.

The UK filing, for example, covers four patents, including ways of using touch interfaces and on-device application stores.

In Germany Nokia is filing twice, in Dusseldorf and Mannheum, with patents including antenna structures, caller ID and display illumination, while in the Netherlands the filing only includes to two patents related to signal noise suppression and data card functionality.

For more: MINA Breaking News

Finland: NOKIA E-72 riddled with problems when using the e-mail wizard

The Nokia corporation has been running into some headwinds lately. This time its thousands of customers who own a Nokia E-72 smart phones and are complaining that the e-mail wizard on their phone is giving them major headaches. They say that once you have established an e-mail account you can't get it out of your phone again, or it stops working altogether.. Apparently also when you try to reset or change the password an already established e-mail account on the Nokia system, the system will request you to enter your ID and password to supposedly start to detect your email settings. But it soon returns to the same interface again, and you will be requested to enter your email address and password over and over again, with absolutely no results. If you want to remove the account from your phone altogether the system responds, "you must be connected to the internet, try again later...
One unhappy Nokia customer said: "I am ready to throw this Nokia phone in the garbage".

What makes matters worse is that Nokia's service centers don't seem to have a handle on this problem, leaving many very unhappy customers.

EU-Digest

Finland: Free Nokia GPS could hurt TomTom, Garmin

Nokia Corp.'s announcement Thursday of free voice navigation for its GPS smartphones is bound to affect some GPS vendors, such as Garmin Ltd. and TomTom Inc.

There has already been a short-term impact; the stock prices of both of those companies declined Thursday. Longer term, the trend toward offering free navigation tools will enhance the value of multifunction smartphones, especially for Nokia, which makes more mobile phones than any manufacturer but has performed poorly in the U.S.

The emergence of free navigation on smartphones also means that a major consolidation among smaller GPS providers is likely, Bonte predicted. And some companies will go out of business entirely. In December, for instance, TeleCommunications Systems Inc. in Annapolis, Md., bought Networks in Motion Inc., a provider of wireless navigation for GPS-enabled phones, for $110 million in cash and stock.

The future of Appello Systems, Telenav, and other smaller GPS players is in question, Bonte said. "Maybe the bigger ones will survive, but I can't see how all will survive," he added. "They may disappear or merge or be acquired by Apple maybe."

For more: Analysis: Free Nokia GPS could hurt TomTom, Garmin

DW: Politicians Accuse Nokia of Abusing German, EU Subsidies -

For the complete report from the Deutsche Welle click on this link

Politicians Accuse Nokia of Abusing German, EU Subsidies -

After the world's largest cell phone producer announced it would close the doors on its plant in Bochum, German politicians say they will investigate whether Nokia took unfair advantage of state and EU subsidies. Jürgen Rüttgers, the premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Bochum is located, told public broadcaster ZDF on Wednesday, Jan. 16, that the Finnish company was a "locust which got money in Germany and then said without warning 'we are going to Romania' to maybe get more public funds there." He also said he would attempt to recover the 60 million euros ($89 million) in subsidies the state had paid the company. Nokia also received about 28 million euros from the federal government.