Nokia: Can it afford to avoid Android much longer?
Nokia's champion of the MeeGo operating system is out the door as the company wrestles with its current operating system---Symbian---and weighs a future one. Given Android's momentum, Nokia may have to go Android sooner than later.
Nokia's champion of the MeeGo operating system is out the door as the company wrestles with its current operating system---Symbian---and weighs a future one. Given Android's momentum, Nokia may have to go Android sooner than later.
To wit:
About a third of all new smartphone sales in the last six months went to Android devices, according to Nielsen.
Nokia's Symbian operating system is a market share leader, but losing momentum.
New Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has a clean slate and an empty exec suite as Ari Jaaksi, the vice president in charge of Nokia's MeeGo devices, has left the company. Jaaksi join
s a long list of departing Nokia executives.
What should Nokia do?
Last week, I argued that Nokia should offer a mobile OS smorgasbord. Perhaps, you do OS choice in phases. Nokia could add Android today and Windows Phone 7 later. In any case, Nokia needs a solid horse to run with. Waiting for MeeGo---or some other unknown quantity---may not be the best strategy.
A lot of the reaction last week revolved around how Nokia should either focus or prep for MeeGo. Do today's developments change the equation for Nokia?
