There’s an interesting post over at MocoNews, which reports from the recent Nokia World event in Barcelona. Worth a read if you have a few minutes as it sets out much of Nokia’s innovation vision for the company.
But the thing which leaps out for me is how the company (like Microsoft before it) is on a direct collision course with the mighty Goog, who is encroaching on much of what they do (and what they plan to do).
For instance, Nokia says that while there’s a company that plans to “index the world”, while they plan to “co-ordinate” it. Apart from the fact the Google’s famous mission is actually to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”, the two descriptions seem remarkably similar. But there’s little doubt in my mind that phones and mapping will be dominated by one or the other.
They’re also on a direct collision course over operating systems (and open source operating systems at that), email (Nokia Messaging Vs Googlemail), Nokia’s Point & Find has very similar potential use cases to Google Street View and of course, the big prize of advertising on mobile.
There’s no sign that Goog are going into music at this stage (the other core part of the Nokia strategy), but that market has an equally formidable incumbent in Apple. Having said that, the Nokia Comes With Music service seems great value, though I haven’t actually tried it, as curiously and for the first time in a very long time indeed, I no longer own a Nokia – I have an iPhone and a Blackberry.
So stand back and watch the two giants slug it out. Microsoft v Google is so last decade. Tickets now on sale for Nokia v Google.
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Apple will tilt the balance towards Google, and dare I predict something will happen to TomTom (currently market cap is 500m, or 2% of AAPLs cash reserve),not for the hardware but because of TeleAtlas.
Good thinking, JT. Actually, it makes even more sense for TomTom as solus, specialist GPS units are about to be subsumed by GPS phones.
Russell
I was a little underwhelmed this time Russell. Granted I was not in the room to sip the Kool-Aid but doesn’t each of the announcements seems like a “follower” rather than a “leader”.
Arguably, Nokia was first on many of these things and years ago too – Maps, App store (download!), OS – but all of the announcements were in response to the encroachment of others on ground Nokia would like to occupy but doesn’t or doesn’t anymore (particularly hurtful in the case of the N97 which however you dress it is built to compete against the iPhone and G1 rather than Nokia itself forging the path for others).
I am a big admirer of Nokia’s internet strategy but it looks like it needs to find inspiration from somewhere if it is to lead the pack.
Yes Scott, I agree. They do seem to be on the back foot and that’s really what I meant with the Microsoft comparison. Surely that’s been a lesson in focusing on what you do well, as opposed to worrying about other players too much.
I don’t think it’s too late for Nokia to get a grip on things, but they do need to raise their game.
Russell
I think “raise their game” is an understatement if they really want to compete in services (see my earlier posts…).
As yet another example, this post about the new “Nokia Messaging” just caught my eye.
So now, for email services from Nokia, there is:
- Nokia Email service
- Nokia Messaging
- Mail on Ovi
- the built-in messaging client on your Nokia device
Compare that to Google’s vast, convoluted array of mail offerings:
- Gmail
As you say in your comment above Russell, this doesn’t look so good for Nokia. How many people do you know who have a Nokia email address? And I can’t see them dominating the converged mobile-web music business either.
The fact that they are in this battle will most likely push them towards some (more) high profile acquisitions though
Great presentation from Omar at Essential Mediatech the other week btw
Why does everything have to be framed as a battle, or as somebody-trying-to-kill-somebody?*
Personally, I prefer the mindset that we are here to create cool stuff for the people of earth, not to kill our competitors. And while there are areas where Nokia and Google offering overlap, I think both companies benefit enormously from each other’s existence.
Anyway, enjoyed the post
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* = actually, one experienced journalist once told me the answer already: framing something as a battle makes a good story => gets attention.
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