Robert Scoble: 'No bigger week for Nokia' than this one

Robert Scoble (of Scobleizer fame) is in Barcelona, Spain for Nokia World, a week where Nokia talks to its top customers, and according to him, there is no bigger week for Nokia than this one: It's their "touchiest week."

So what's Nokia got to say, you ask? Whatever it is, a lot's riding on it.

Apparently, the blogosphere hasn't the slightest inkling of what Nokia will announce this week because nothing's leaked. That touch screen cell phone currently bouncing around in the rumor mill? A Nokia rep says that theory isn't qute on the money.

(The announcements are scheduled for Wednesday morning.)

According to Scoble, this is the week where Nokia rises to the occasion or drops below Apple and RIM for good in the smartphone category.

Scoble makes his case:

• "At the recent Salesforce.com conference CEO Marc Benioff asked the audience what cell phone they used. 35% answered iPhones. That’s incredible. Apple has gotten HUGE market share among enterprise users, despite having a huge wall setup against them. RIM was used by almost everyone else at Salesforce. Nokia? Hah."
• "When I traveled to China the thought leaders there bragged about their iPhones. Same in Tel Aviv, Israel. These are places that are HUGE Nokia strongholds and that have almost no Apple stores."
• "Apple is just about to pass 10,000 apps for the iPhone, says Webware. Developers are picking iPhone big time. Why is that? Because Apple has thought leadership that Nokia has squandered."

In other words, no pressure, Nokia!

In context, Nokia still has the most cell phone marketshare, and according to Scoble, its devices are much better engineered than Apple's are: "GPS on Nokia is better, so are the antennas, the cameras, and bluetooth radios that Nokia uses." (Agree with this? Tell us in TalkBack. -Ed.)

But as everyone on ZDNet knows, good engineering doesn't necessarily translate to a knockout device. And the way our recession is going, Nokia can't afford to slip in 2009.

Another detail: Apparently, the Broadcom chip in the phone is much smaller compared to the prototype that the team built back in 2000. Broadcom now makes one chip combining GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi, meaning longer battery life, lower cost and a smaller form factor. This could be a key feature in competing with the big boys, assuming Nokia's in the underdog role.

Think Nokia's got what it takes to compete against Apple and RIM? Tell us your thoughts in TalkBack.