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Nokia (Microsoft) we have a problem







This week Nokia quietly became the #1 windows phone maker in the world.  This was achieved with just over a quarter of it selling it's Lumia branded Nokia Windows Phone!  Windows Phone is selling like hot cakes as the article screams. Microsoft sold 2.6 million handsets Q42011. Lumia accounted for almost 0.9 million phones! Congrats Nokia and Microsoft, you did it! 


Lumia 800
This is remarkable or maybe not.....


Nokia knows how to make a sexy hardware. It's hardware is second to none. They really know how to make a cellphone with great reception! That is even the mighty iPhone4S will agree on that front. The OS is unique and smooth and outside Nexus series maybe even smoother then any Android Phones in the market. It has a great keyboard and it really competes well with the best onscreen keyboard - i Phone out there. Microsoft Apps have gotten better than maybe mid of last year and that is a good sign for Microsoft. Internet Explorer works great on the low end processor even today, which tells you how well Microsoft has thought about everything in the OS. Microsoft also has a great upgrade plan for the entire handset running Microsoft which is much better than Android.  They are also pointing about their superiority over Android. 


SO they have a lot going for themselves.


1. A killer Hardware partner in Nokia
2. A great Operation system
3. Marketplace which is slowly getting better


So with all said Nokia sold around 1.2 million Nokia phones to date! The 2.6 million Windows Phone 7 handsets are 4 day sale figure for Android Phones. You read that right. 4 days of sales for Android Phone. iPhone sold more than that the last quarter of 2011! That spells doom for Nokia...Not necessary Microsoft at this point.  Microsoft has billions of $$$ and just like XBOX, they can be patient with it, but I am not sure how patient Nokia board and it's shareholder would be to see negative growth.  With dwindling Symbian phone marketshare and profits that directly affect the bottom line, I see a huge drop in Nokia's marketshare and erosion of their shareholder money. 


Everyone loves Windows Phone 7, but the fact is a lot of people don't care for the 3rd vendor at this point. Everyone loves to say, Windows Phone Metro UI is awesome - but the fact is it's not yet translated to sure fire sale.  Windows 8 can change it, but by that time, I don't see Nokia as a separate company. It will be called as Microsoft. They can buy Nokia for less than they paid Skype. 


Image Source: Venture Beat


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