Nokia Corp. is set to roll out a new smartphone with T-Mobile USA, aiming to keep at least a toehold in the U.S. market while working up the new line of devices on which it has bet its future.
Nokia, long the world's largest seller of mobile phones but losing the smartphone race to Apple Inc. and Google Inc., embarked on a major strategic shift in February with plans to dump its homegrown Symbian operating system and develop phones based on Microsoft Corp. software.
But the firm says those new phones won't ship in large volumes until next year, so it needs to keep nursing Symbian devices along to avoid falling out of the lucrative smartphone market.
The Finnish company will launch the C7 smartphone based on the Symbian operating system with T-Mobile USA, say people familiar with the matter. (On Sunday, AT&T Inc. said it was buying T-Mobile for $39 billion from Deutsche Telekom AG.)
Nokia's new chief executive, Stephen Elop, has pledged to continue investing in Symbian through the transition to Windows-based phones. Analysts say the company can't just sit on its heels given Symbian's still large user base and developer support.
Symbian was the largest smartphone platform globally until the fourth quarter, when it was passed by Google's Android operating system, shipping on a third of smartphones globally to Symbian's 31%, according to research firm Canalys.
Charles Golvin, principal analyst with Forrester Research Inc., says Nokia has to do everything possible to make its Symbian developers feel loved so it can get them to develop applications for it Windows Phone 7 smartphones down the line.
"There is an element here of just maintaining momentum in the market," he said. "They have to continue to be seen as a player, even if the software platform they have isn't altogether competitive."
A Nokia spokeswoman declined to comment.
The landscape of the handset market has changed rapidly, with users of ordinary mobile phones trading up to smartphones at a rapid pace. Nokia is failing to keep up with buzz generated by Apple and Google, and has failed to make much of a dent in the U.S.
Nokia faces a number of challenges in the U.S. Many users see Symbian as unappealing compared to the iPhone and other smartphones, something Mr. Elop acknowledged last month in London.
Operator support is another hurdle. Nokia is in a poor position to negotiate subsidies and marketing support for Symbian smartphones, as it is abandoning the platform for Windows.
Nokia recently canceled the U.S. launch of its X7 smartphone, which ran its Symbian software, after not receiving enough marketing and subsidies support from its intended carrier, AT&T Inc. Nokia launched its higher end N8 late last year without carrier support in the U.S., hindering its chances of finding many users.
Nokia started shipping the C7 world-wide in October at an estimated €335, or $475, before taxes and subsidies. During Nokia's fourth-quarter analyst call, Mr. Elop mentioned the C7 as one of a number of new Symbian launches that helped contribute to the over five million new devices it shipped in the quarter.
William Stofega, analyst for IDC, says Nokia's success will depend on the pricing and how much marketing and sales support T-Mobile will give the C7, especially in its stores.
"Are they going to compete head to head with Apple, I don't think so, but if they can price right, that could be a pretty interesting offer," says Mr. Stofega
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703292304576212763344357314.html#ixzz1Ha3qhxeO
Nokia, long the world's largest seller of mobile phones but losing the smartphone race to Apple Inc. and Google Inc., embarked on a major strategic shift in February with plans to dump its homegrown Symbian operating system and develop phones based on Microsoft Corp. software.
But the firm says those new phones won't ship in large volumes until next year, so it needs to keep nursing Symbian devices along to avoid falling out of the lucrative smartphone market.
The Finnish company will launch the C7 smartphone based on the Symbian operating system with T-Mobile USA, say people familiar with the matter. (On Sunday, AT&T Inc. said it was buying T-Mobile for $39 billion from Deutsche Telekom AG.)
Nokia's new chief executive, Stephen Elop, has pledged to continue investing in Symbian through the transition to Windows-based phones. Analysts say the company can't just sit on its heels given Symbian's still large user base and developer support.
Symbian was the largest smartphone platform globally until the fourth quarter, when it was passed by Google's Android operating system, shipping on a third of smartphones globally to Symbian's 31%, according to research firm Canalys.
Charles Golvin, principal analyst with Forrester Research Inc., says Nokia has to do everything possible to make its Symbian developers feel loved so it can get them to develop applications for it Windows Phone 7 smartphones down the line.
"There is an element here of just maintaining momentum in the market," he said. "They have to continue to be seen as a player, even if the software platform they have isn't altogether competitive."
A Nokia spokeswoman declined to comment.
The landscape of the handset market has changed rapidly, with users of ordinary mobile phones trading up to smartphones at a rapid pace. Nokia is failing to keep up with buzz generated by Apple and Google, and has failed to make much of a dent in the U.S.
Nokia faces a number of challenges in the U.S. Many users see Symbian as unappealing compared to the iPhone and other smartphones, something Mr. Elop acknowledged last month in London.
Operator support is another hurdle. Nokia is in a poor position to negotiate subsidies and marketing support for Symbian smartphones, as it is abandoning the platform for Windows.
Nokia recently canceled the U.S. launch of its X7 smartphone, which ran its Symbian software, after not receiving enough marketing and subsidies support from its intended carrier, AT&T Inc. Nokia launched its higher end N8 late last year without carrier support in the U.S., hindering its chances of finding many users.
Nokia started shipping the C7 world-wide in October at an estimated €335, or $475, before taxes and subsidies. During Nokia's fourth-quarter analyst call, Mr. Elop mentioned the C7 as one of a number of new Symbian launches that helped contribute to the over five million new devices it shipped in the quarter.
William Stofega, analyst for IDC, says Nokia's success will depend on the pricing and how much marketing and sales support T-Mobile will give the C7, especially in its stores.
"Are they going to compete head to head with Apple, I don't think so, but if they can price right, that could be a pretty interesting offer," says Mr. Stofega
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703292304576212763344357314.html#ixzz1Ha3qhxeO
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