Nokia Facing Hard Times On All Fronts: Mobile Phones; Telecom Infrastructure And Services
Tricia Duryee
mocoNews.net
Thursday, May 21, 2009; 8:59 PM
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has trimmed its workforce by around 1,000 and is cutting back on investing in new content and services. But it's no wonder?the company is facing steep competition on all fronts, ranging from its traditionally strong handset division to its telecom infrastructure division.
Still, Nokia has two big launches coming up, so not all bets are off. Look forward to the Ovi Store, which will compete with Apple's App Store, starting this month, and also its flagship N97 device coming to North America this summer.
Here's a round-up of what Nokia is facing from a number of viewpoints:
?Mobile phones: Nokia continues to be the largest global handset manufacturer, however, its marketshare dropped in the first quarter to 36.2 percent from 39.1 percent in the year-ago period, according to a report published by Strategy Analytics yesterday. Likewise, Nokia continues to retain the lion's share of the smartphone market at 41.2 percent, but its lead is slipping (because of the iPhone). Last year, Nokia's share was higher at 45.1 percent. Telecom infrastructure and services after the jump?
?Telecom Infrastructure: Nokia Siemens, which provides network infrastructure to both wired and wireless operators, saw its marketshare drop in the first quarter to 21 percent from 24 percent a year ago, reports Reuters. It is the third-second largest after Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC), which saw its share increase. In addition, it faces intense competition from China's Huawei, which took the No. 3 position, by doubling its market share from a year ago to bypass Alcatel-Lucent.
?Internet and mobile-phone services: For the last couple years, Nokia has been investing deeply in services, such as maps, photo-sharing, mail, music and other content. Two weeks ago, it confirmed it was no longer investing in Ovi Share, its photo-and-video sharing site. The action marks the handset maker's first major retreat in the Internet services space. It issued a press release saying that it will party with third-parties when it makes sense. Analysts suggest that the Ovi Share service never took off given steep competition from established sites such as Picasa, Flickr or Facebook. |
