Nokia kicks off strategy to focus more attention on the U.S. wireless market
I remember several years back when it seems everyone had either a Motorola or a Nokia mobile phone that was free from their U.S. wireless carrier. There are still quite a few Nokia devices provided by U.S. wireless carriers, but we haven't seen them actively involved in the mid to high end smartphone market. People in the U.S. who have wanted the Nseries or Eseries, or even the 6xxx series devices have had to buy them SIM-unlocked from Nokia or other U.S. importers. There has been a bit of headway with the 6xxx series as shown by the 6555 with AT&T. In the Nokia Conversations article Nokia representatives state that 300 product managers have been assigned to AT&T and Verizon to help tailor devices to their customers.
I understand that the U.S. market is different than Europe and other parts of the world since most U.S. mobile phone owners just want the cheapest (or free) phone they can get that lets them make calls. I hope that this changes a bit and that people start looking at their phone as more of tool to stay in touch with text messaging, email, and phone calls. I could never go back to a standard phone now that I know how much my phone can actually do for me. It will be interesting to see what kind of products Nokia comes up with tailored to the U.S. market, but I am afraid at this time it may still be something like the Nokia 3650.
There are a few of us who want the high end devices and I believe as people start to see how much the Apple iPhone can do they may start looking around for higher end Nokia devices. However, Nokia's support for these high end devices will have to get much better before I can recommend people go out and spend US$500+ for a device optimized for U.S. 3G bands. Every other Nokia N95 has received a firmware upgrade, except for the N95-3 North American version that actually came out before some other devices. This apparent lack of support for loyal N95-3 buyers has left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth and this kind of treatment should not occur in the future if Nokia wants to reach U.S. customers.
According to the CTIA, there were something like 255+ million U.S. wireless subscribers in December 2007. I believe that China and then India are in first and second place above the U.S. Western Europe (includes several countries) has something on the order of 450+ million subscribers. As you can see, there is a significant potential in the U.S. market. Nokia leads all other manufacturers in global market share with something like 40% of the market (this includes feature and smart phones), but if they can make a stronger showing in the U.S. and North America then that number could rise significantly. There were others who also seem excited to hear that Nokia will start taking a more serious look at the U.S.
The interview video was made with Daniel Dhondt, N96 designer, and Joeske Schellen, N78 creator. After seeing and getting a bit of hands-on time with both of these devices at Mobile World Congress in Spain I am looking forward to their release, with hopes that US 3G support will be coming as well. The Nokia N73 still remains one of my all-time favorite Nseries devices and with the added functionality in the N78 I think this will be one hot device. The N96 is quite a powerhouse, but until the U.S. gets DVB-H I don't see a compelling reason to upgrade from my N95-3. BTW, it would have been nice to have seen these videos posted on Share on Ovi as well as YouTube ;)