Farewell to Nokia: The Rise and fall of mobile pioneer

I believe you will never forget your first phone, and it's probably Nokia 3210 or 7250. From today's standards, the monochrome backlit black-and-white screen of early Nokia features, the gluttonous snake game, the bulky fuselage and the simple features that have become outdated in today's smartphone rampage, But at the time it was a symbol of fashion and trends.

Yes, perhaps nostalgia is because the past has entered the old age, but have to admit that there are many things in our growth path with us, but they are gradually disappearing. Today, Nokia, the first of many people to have a mobile phone, is now saying goodbye to us.

This Friday, the Finnish mobile phone company, has become "American nationality", its equipment and services business has been completed by Microsoft acquisition. Microsoft says Nokia has now become the "Microsoft Mobile Oy", a group of hardware devices belonging to the Microsoft group. "Today is an exciting day because we are joining the Microsoft family and will start a new journey," said Nokia's former CEO, Elop.

Microsoft's 7.3 billion-dollar takeover is sobering: even the strongest companies in one industry may end up in a takeover position. Today's high-spirited Samsung, though expensive as the world's largest handset maker, accounts for only around One-fourth of the world's market share, while Nokia, at its peak, has a 41% market share in 2007, which is unthinkable at the moment.

At the end of last year, although Nokia still occupies 15% of the market share, but the gold content is very low, most of which are low-end function machine, smartphone share has fallen below 10%. Perhaps Nokia's brilliance was somewhat tenuous, but it was also related to its triple two missed market opportunities. After joining the Windows Phone camp, the last Finnish phone giant fell to the hands of American software giants, perhaps the time to say goodbye to Nokia.

The gorgeous transformation of rubber Company

Nokia is headquartered in Espoo, Helsinki, Finland, but now the industrial park is not Nokia, the mobile phone giant has become a "tenant." Although the mobile sector has been acquired by Microsoft, the telecommunications infrastructure business, map services, advanced technology parts still belong to Nokia. The 150-Year-old telecoms company started out as a rubber project.

Before Jorma was appointed CEO in 1992, Nokia's business was a mess, and it was seeking to shift from rubber processing to paper suppliers. However, Jorma Ollila firmly believe that the telecommunications business is full of the future, so under his leadership, Nokia gradually abandoned the rubber, cable and other business, will focus on the development of GSM wireless technology, and finally successfully set up their own internal production supply chain, began to produce mobile phones.

In the mobile phone industry is very backward, decentralized situation, Nokia is the first to look at the global market, and set up a good marketing mechanism. You will see Nokia mobile phones in the movie "Matrix", and the development of high-end products is getting better. Eventually, in 1998, Nokia overtook Motorola, the handset inventor, to become the world's largest handset maker.

For the next 10 years, Nokia has been at the top of the mobile landscape, "you blink of an instant, there are 4 of Nokia handsets sold" to become the classic Nokia golden period case. But from 2004 onwards, Nokia began to experience the impact of different competitors, although still at the peak, but its stubbornly refused to change, the future of the decline of the hidden dangers and foreshadowing.

The rise of RAZR

While most of the world's users are accustomed to Nokia's rigid straight phone design, consumers in North America are beginning to focus on clamshell phones, all from Motorola Razr. The 2004 slim "Blade" design is one of the best sold handsets in recent years. However, Nokia rejected this aesthetic change, though it later introduced N76 to imitate RAZR's flip phone, but it was too late for Nokia to start losing its North American market.

Even if Nokia realizes the problem and tries to change it, it does little. For example, in the global market the attention of the machine King N95, in the U.S. market is almost difficult to find, because operators refused to cooperate with Nokia. So in the era of the functional machine, we see Samsung or LG custom phones are often sold very well, Nokia is considered by the United States as "Japanese brand."

Eventually, in the era of the functional machine (or the age of the smartphone Enlightenment), Nokia lost the U.S. market, the first hidden danger has been buried. By the year 2007, Nokia continued to lead the global handset market, but another new enemy appeared unexpectedly and fatally hit Nokia, the Apple iphone.

Apple's smartphone revolution

Although many ordinary users think Apple has invented smartphones, this is not the case. Nokia actually had half the world's smartphone market before his touch-screen phone climbed to the top, and the popularity of Symbian mobile phones was something I wanted to be a bit more mobile-age friends would never forget.

But the advent of the iphone has established another standard: a high-resolution multi-touch screen, gesture manipulation, built-in advanced sensors, powerful multimedia and internet capabilities. Neither Nokia Symbian nor Microsoft's Windows Mobile or BlackBerry have these features. Then, as iOS started its built-in app store, downloading and installing apps directly into the mobile app store dramatically changed the experience of smartphone apps, which compared to other operating systems. Later, Google Android began to reside, providing a similar experience.

And what about Nokia? Still refuses to change. Nokia hates touch screens, so the hottest Nokia phone is still a keyboard phone like E71, and it wasn't until a year after the iphone was released that 5800 of the built-in resistive touchscreen came late. Unfortunately, the touch screen for 5800 is like a pair of ill-fitting shoes, its user interface is completely not optimized for touch screen operation.

Perhaps the user's habits are not easy to change, but not immutable. After Apple, Samsung and HTC have launched a big-screen touch of smartphones, iOS and Android have entered a high-speed development period, and Symbian, which lacks touch screens and app Store genes, has turned from an intelligent pioneer to a laggard.

"There was a lack of urgency within the company, and the entire product structure was built on stability rather than innovation," Nokia's former executive told us. As a result, Nokia, which still insists on the keyboard and mobile phone, is quick to see the rise of rivals and the decline of their own market share. Meego and N9 are on the agenda as a new era plan, but it's too late to realize the future of touch phones.

Jump from a fire pit into another

Perhaps Nokia's board now regrets the "undercover CEO", but it's too late. Joining the Windows Phone camp and refusing to launch Android models now seem to be the layout of Microsoft's takeover of Nokia, as Elop, a former Microsoft executive, waits for the glory to return to headquarters.

The Meego platform is just a flash in the pan, and with the idea that Nokia is joining Microsoft's strategic partner in Windows Phone camp, most Nokia employees are shocked and some are confident in the new direction. Starting in 2011, a series of Nokia Windows Phone Lumia 800 and so on, even though Nokia is the "first Windows Phone brand", but also limited to this.

Nokia X, which carried the underlying Android system in 2014, is on the market, but positioning the low-end markets limits its use. Almost everyone is thinking, if the CEO is not Elop, Nokia after the end of Symbian to join the Android camp and launch high-end mobile phones, now the first is Samsung?

Say goodbye to Nokia in the Lumia era

Of course, Nokia in the Lumia era is not no innovation, such as Lumia 920, 1020, such as models, sensitive touch screen, wireless charging function, PureView camera, these are Nokia as a veteran handset manufacturers in the accumulation of technology embodied in the profound skills. But can a 41 million megapixel camera fundamentally change the poor Windows Phone ecosystem? From the Lumia 1020 sales can be learned.

Today's mobile-phone market, apparently the iphone and Galaxy duo, accounts for almost 90% of the entire high-end smartphone market. Nokia, the Lumia era, became a symbol of Microsoft and now belongs entirely to Microsoft. For all handset makers, this is a huge lesson, both Apple and Samsung can learn from Nokia.

No matter how Microsoft develops Lumia brand in the future, I don't know whether the mobile phone with "Nokia" logo will eventually disappear, but I think I will miss those Nokia phones that have been used.

(Responsible editor: Lu Guang)