Business
Nokia, Microsoft Plan To Rival Apple, Google
Technology titans Nokia and Microsoft are joining forces to make smart phones in a push to challenge rivals like Apple and Google, hoping to revive their own fortunes in a market they have struggled to keep up with.
According to the Associated Press, Nokia Corp., the world’s largest cell phone maker, said Friday it will use Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone software as the main platform for its smart phones in an effort to recover lost share from Apple’s iPhone and Android, Google’s software for phones and tablets.
The move marks a major strategy shift for Nokia, which has previously equipped devices with its own open-share software. Analysts said the deal was a bigger win for Microsoft than Nokia, whose CEO Stephen Elop in a leaked memo this week compared his company to a burning oil platform with “more than one explosion … fueling a blazing fire around us.”
Nokia share price plummeted 14 percent to euro7.00 ($9.52) in late trading in Helsinki.
The partnership will “deliver an ecosystem with unrivaled global reach and scale,” Nokia said, but warned that it would also bring “significant uncertainties” and it expects profit margins to be hit by strong competition from rivals.
Elop, a Canadian national, joined Nokia from a senior executive position at Microsoft last year. The first non-Finn to lead Nokia, he is under intense pressure to reverse the company’s market share losses to North American and Asian competitors.
“Nokia is at a critical juncture, where significant change is necessary and inevitable,” Elop said. He added the company was aiming at “regaining our smart phone leadership, reinforcing our mobile device platform and realising our investments in the future.”
Elop warned of major restructuring which would result in more global layoffs, saying Nokia must “improve the speed and nimbleness and agility of the organisation,” but gave no details.
Nokia is still the biggest handset maker but its market share has tumbled from 41 percent in 2008 to 31 percent at the end of 2010.
It has also lost its innovative edge in the fiercely competitive top-end sector and is virtually invisible — with a 3 percent share, in the world’s largest smart phone market, North America.
Apples’ iPhone has set the standard for today’s smart phones and Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerrys have become the favorite of the corporate set. More recently, Google Inc.’s Android software has emerged as the choice for phone makers that want to challenge the iPhone.
Speaking to analysts in London, Elop declined to say when Nokia would introduce a new device running on Windows Phone. But he said Nokia won’t bury its own Symbian operating system or the new MeeGo platform that it is currently developing.
More than 200 million phones, with 150 million more expected on the market, use Symbian technology, seen by some developers as clumsy and outdated. At the end of last year it was surpassed by Android as the world’s No. 1 smart phone software, according to the Canalys research firm.
Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer said the new partnership with Nokia would give them “more innovation (and) greater global reach.” The two companies will “collaborate closely on development … so we can really align and drive the future revolution of the mobile phone,” he said.
A key challenge will be to produce quality devices with a hip factor that helps position Windows Phone as an attractive alternative to iPhone or Android. in a market where image plays a central role.
Windows Phone 7, launched last year, has a lot of catching up to do both in the number of users and “apps” available for the phones.
Nokia said its input in the partnership will include areas “such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader” and map services, while the new device will use Microsoft’s Bing search engine.
Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics in London said Microsoft would benefit more from the partnership.
“In terms of expanding their distribution reach, this is a huge win for Microsoft,” he said.
“Payment of tuition fees for undergraduate/postgraduate studies shall be subject to a maximum limit of $25,000.00 per semester,” the Manual states.
The expansion of international card limits also reflects growing confidence among lenders that foreign exchange liquidity has improved enough to support retail dollar transactions.
Speaking recently at the BusinessDay 14th Annual CEO Forum in Lagos, CBN Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the CBN said buying and selling activities now increasingly determine outcomes in the foreign exchange market, unlike in the past when market participants relied heavily on routine Central Bank interventions.
According to Cardoso, Nigeria’s net foreign exchange reserves have risen from just over $3 billion at the start of the reform programme to more than $40 billion, while gross reserves have climbed to about $52 billion, providing stronger confidence for investors and enabling the Central Bank to reserve interventions for periods of market stress rather than day-to-day liquidity management.
The restoration and expansion of international naira card spending limits are increasingly being seen as one of the clearest signs that the benefits of the CBN’s foreign exchange reforms are beginning to reach households, students and businesses making legitimate cross-border payments.
The Secretary-General and Chief Executive Officer, WEC, Dr Angela Wilkinson, disclosed this in a statement, last Thursday.
“Nigeria’s participation comes at a pivotal time as the country seeks to expand energy access, strengthen energy security, accelerate gas development and mobilise the capital required for industrialisation and sustainable economic growth.
“WEC Nigeria will convene leaders from across the energy ecosystem, apply the WEC’s globally recognised Energy Trilemma framework to Nigeria’s unique context, and promote evidence-based dialogue, practical collaboration and informed policymaking.
“It will also ensure that Nigerian and broader African perspectives contribute meaningfully to global energy conversations,” she said.
Wilkinson expressed confidence that Nigeria would play a significant leadership role at the World Energy Congress scheduled for Riyadh in April 2027 and beyond.
The statement also quoted the Chairman of WEC Nigeria, Isa, as describing the country’s participation as an opportunity to deepen national and African leadership within the global energy community through practical solutions tailored to regional development priorities.
He said the platform would promote collaboration across sectors and attract sustainable investments into Nigeria’s energy sector.
The Chief Executive Officer of WEC Nigeria, Wunti, was quoted in the statement as saying that the council would connect leadership, evidence and investment to build a secure, affordable and sustainable energy system.
“This system will be capable of driving economic growth and shared prosperity.”
According to him, the platform will also connect Nigerian institutions and businesses with international knowledge, technology, partnerships and investment opportunities through the World Energy Council’s global network.
Recall that WEC, founded in 1923, is the world’s oldest independent and impartial community of energy leaders and practitioners, advancing informed, collaborative and practical action across the global energy system.