Nokia and Microsoft might be getting a little too close. It seems that the Finnish phone maker is picking up Microsoft’s bad habit of trashing the competition. During an interview with Pocket-Lint, a Nokia executive claimed that kids no longer like the iPhone and that Android is too confusing for the youth. This is despite piles of sales charts that say the exact opposite.
“What we see is that youth are pretty much fed up with iPhones. Everyone has the iPhone,” said Niels Munksgaard, director of Portfolio, Product Marketing, and Sales at Nokia Entertainment Global. ”Also, many are not happy with the complexity of Android and the lack of security. So we do increasing see that the youth that wants to be on the cutting edge and try something new are turning to the Windows phone platform….The marketplace is extremely crowded. I refer to it as the sea of sameness. When you walk up to a retail shelf at Phones4U and see the number of black mono-blocks sitting on the shelf, it is very confusing to the consumer. We want to deliver services and phones that are different.”
There is so much wrong with this quote that we’ve decided to break it into sections and rip it apart, bit by bit.
Everyone has the iPhone…thus making it uncool
First, let’s talk about Munksgaard’s statement on the iPhone: ”What we see is that youth are pretty much fed up with iPhones. Everyone has the iPhone.”
This statement is reminiscent of one HTC America’s Michael Fichter tried to make back in September. ”I brought my daughter back to college — she’s down in Portland at Reed — and I talked to a few of the kids on her floor,” said Fichter. “And none of them has an iPhone because they told me: ‘My dad has an iPhone.’ There’s an interesting thing that’s going on in the market. The iPhone becomes a little less cool than it was. They were carrying HTCs. They were carrying Samsungs. They were even carrying some Chinese manufacture’s devices. If you look at a college campus, Mac Book Airs are cool. iPhones are not that cool anymore. We here are using iPhones, but our kids don’t find them that cool anymore.”
At least Fichter had a story to tell. Where is the data to support Munksgaard’s claims? The iPhone 4S recently launched and, from early estimates, it has increased iPhone sales by as much as 50 percent, maybe more, since its debut in October. Until March of this year, I lived next to a college campus and I have only seen an increase in iPhones, and all smartphones. We have seen no evidence of a youth uprising or mass exodus against Apple. The company seems more popular than ever with those college-age and younger.
Android is too complex for regular people
Moving on to the Android bashing section of Munksgaard’s quote: ”Also, many are not happy with the complexity of Android and the lack of security.”
This quote too is similar to a statement Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made in October. At the Web 2.0 Summit, Ballmer joked that you need a degree in computer science to operate an Android phone. “You don’t need to be a computer scientist to use a Windows Phone. I think you do to use an Android Phone…It is hard for me to be excited about the Android phones.”
I’ll be the first to admit that Android is not the prettiest or best operating system I’ve ever seen, but it’s not much more complex than an iPhone (and certainly much easier to learn than Windows 7). The biggest problem with Android is that manufacturers tinker with the OS, making each version slightly different.
But if Android is too insecure and complex, why are companies like Samsung, whose 2011 financials have been bolstered by Android sales, encroaching on Nokia’s dominant sales position? Samsung phone sales have already exceeded 300 million units this year. Similarly, Android has turned HTC into a household name and helped bring Motorola back from the dead. The OS continues to gain momentum and has more than 40-50 percent of the smartphone market now. If it’s so complex, then why is it continuing to sell so astronomically well?
Windows Phone is on “the cutting edge”
Finally, Munksgaard addresses how the youth is moving toward Windows Phone, the physical design of phones, and how they all look the same: ”So we do increasing see that the youth that wants to be on the cutting edge and try something new are turning to the Windows phone platform….The marketplace is extremely crowded. I refer to it as the sea of sameness. When you walk up to a retail shelf at Phones4U and see the number of black mono-blocks sitting on the shelf, it is very confusing to the consumer. We want to deliver services and phones that are different.”
If “the youth” is clamoring for Windows Phone so they can be on “the cutting edge,” then why does the OS continue to bleed market share? There’s nothing cutting edge about the fact that Windows Phones are behind the curve in a number of areas. Microsoft still does not support important features like 4G LTE, NFC, and dual- or quad-core processors, among other things. If it weren’t for Microsoft’s deep pockets, the OS might not still be around at all.
As for the “sea of sameness,” I agree. This is a fantastic point, except that the Nokia Lumia 710 and Lumia 800, aside from appearing in some fresh colors, are exactly the same as every other phone on the market. They’re rectangular, have a big screen, and touch buttons.
I like Windows Phone. I don’t like distortions.
Don’t get me wrong. Windows Phone is a fantastic platform, and may be more intuitive than iOS or Android, but trying to lie about the competition isn’t becoming of Nokia, which has made a point to say it is a humble company now, trying to make a comeback. The Windows Phone operating system may be my favorite and I’m actually using a Windows Phone as my primary device right now, but this kind of talk isn’t going to win anyone over. Angering fans of Android and iOS will only make it more difficult to get them to give Windows Phone a chance in the future.
Microsoft and Nokia: Instead of trashing the competition, you need to direct your eyes toward 2012 and make sure you get those 4G LTE phones out in the US.
Total waste of time this article…. iphone not cool well i leave that to Iphone lovers to decide and android not easy to use ….. utter crap… i learned to use android with in 10 min max after shifting from Nokia N97 mini which got corrupted… my android is awesome and I love it…
You obviously didn’t read the article, this is what Nokia said about the iPhone and Android phone, not the author. The author is saying Nokia is full of it.
yup true… just saw the heading …
You are forgiven my friend! :)
Welcome to the site!
cheers mate….
even if you just read the heading, you should have known that this is what Nokia said. ;) lol
ya had been reading too much article about what nokia said… so didnt read the heading at all… my bad :P
lol
TechFreak from digitaltrends.com said:
I have to laugh at this coming from Nokia, a company that is all but dying. I can’t remember the last time they predicted anything correctly. #fail
Listening to the kids (15 -25 year old) on the trains and buses on various commutes, plus attending some music festivals in the UK this summer, the Iphone has definitely lost its “cool lustre”. Especially as now many of their parents now have Iphones, which just is not cool, they don’t wish be seen or associated with a phone that “Alan Partridge” of this world now have.
Dear Mr. “Camp”,
It is clear by your article that your firmly in one “CAMP” (pun intended). Based on the articles content it seems you like stirring the pot more then anything else.
Did you write the same article about Samsung’s video’s that trashed Apple?
Did you dash out to defend Microsoft when Apple associated that fat bloated guy with a PC?
– snicker, Apple did a good job, and I use Microsoft products and MAC
Point is your article clearly relays your true colors and makes anything you write worthless since you come across as biased. Certainly you will attract the fanboys but who really cares what some exec says? Unless you so happen to own stock in one of the other companies, perhaps?
I often wonder how many of these Internet rags are secretly in bed with companies on the side. Journalism on the web certainly does not lack bias. Perhaps journalism is too good a word for this bee hive swatting style.
Guess that makes you a true Fanboy versus someone who can remain unbiased and untainted.
So because you have a different opinion than the author, that means he is a sellout? Common on now kid, that’s horse crap. There are a lot of people (me included) that think he is right on the money here.
It’s Mr. “Van Camp”
What are my true colors? This article defends three different operating systems. It is an opinion piece and I am up front in saying that I do like Windows Phone as well. This is not being a fanboy; it’s being honest with you. Last week I was using an Android device as my primary phone. Next week it could be an iPhone.
This is not the Associated Press. There is plenty of room for opinion in journalism or blogging or whatever you care to call this. There’s no such thing as being “untainted” or “unbiased.” I am biased toward the consumer and the reader and what I perceive as fair. And if you read a piece by someone who’s “untainted” then your’e reading something by someone who doesn’t know what the hell is going on. Every experience taints someone, if that’s how you choose to look at it.
Are you sure you read the article?
I am a member of the youth, and what nokia said is actualy true.
Certain things in a life only appease a matured and rounded taste. Take for example wine. Give a child a sip of the ol’ red, and you can be certain the child will spit it out.
Those of you with the “matured and rounded taste” referred to above, will have already pre-empted the parallel’s I am about to draw…
The mere fact that a phone has a large following does not mean that it is a better device. Many people drive Fords, which does not make it a better car than say a Mercedes.
The WP7 compared to IOS or Android is the clear leader of the pack. To make reference to market share at this early juncture is stupendous waste of server space.
In a pound for pound sense the Windows Phone is a far superior OS. And for those of you that do not share this view, I refer you to paragraph one of this comment.