I think we all have moments in our lives where we received certain surprising news.
- I was at a surprise birthday party (mine) when the Challenger space shuttle exploded.
- I was in a Hilton Hotel in Dusseldorf when the twin towers when down on 9/11.
- I was speaking in the Deuitsche Telekom (T-Mobile) booth when Nokia announced that they were going to adopt the Microsoft platform over Android.
Ok…the last is not as severe as the others, but I predict that it will be devastating to Nokia. The announcement did not come as much of a surprise. Nokia had a sudden influx of Microsoft executives, a company that had a renewed push into mobile. It makes sense that those new executives brought with them a BillGatesian sense of the market.
What does not make sense is why Nokia would situate themselves in the middle of a battlefield between two of the largest companies in the space. In essence, they are a shield for Microsoft. In order for Microsoft to take casualties, Nokia must be hit first.
Imagine this…Nokia has launched the Lumia 900 phone. It is a good handset but not a game changing device. It is competing with the iPhone, arguably one of the greatest lifestyle devices of all time, and Android- a platform that has won the support of almost every device manufacturer in the world. Even with the Lumia 900 hitting the top ten list for mobile devices, it is not enough to rescue Nokia. If anything, it makes them more vulnerable. With fewer device manufacturers and no way for the ones that are adopting Windows to contribute to the betterment of the platform, Microsoft’s platform is simply outclassed. And to make matters worse for Nokia, it is their only bet in the game.
A far better strategy would be for Nokia to adopt both the Android and Windows platforms. It would reduce their exposure and allow them to focus on what they are good at: building hardware inexpensively and at a reasonable level of quality. With global manufacturing costs going up, this could be the silver bullet that enables Nokia to significantly differentiate itself and win over the market.
Nokia’s participation into the mobile OS wars will only put them in a position to take casualties for the benefit of other companies.