Nokia, World, 2013
Hopes, Dreams and the Cold Reality.
I already have a follow up on Medium: “Nokia Failed My World 2013 “.
Okay, here it is. My post, my opinion about the fact that Microsoft plans to buy Nokia. I know this is not news anymore, but now is the right time for me to write about it. I had time to digest this big step, think about it and combine this post with one about Nokia World 2013.
The Acquisition
It was not the most surprising thing, but still, it caught me off guard. I thought, with the Lumia sales slowly crawling towards acceptable numbers, an acquisition would not be on the table anymore. But as it seems, I underestimated the risk-aversity of Nokia’s board. The smartphone business is a risky field to play on and the market is getting more and more competitive. Just look at what prices these Chinese manufacturers are producing high-end Android phones.
So, I get it. The board wanted a save way out and I am okay with this, but what I not understand is…
The Price
Microsoft will pay Nokia $7.2 billion. In my opinion that price is to low. Because I compare it with the $8.5 billion they paid for Skype and the $12.5 billion Google paid for Motorola. I think $10.1 billion would look better. Especially since Nokia could basically blackmail Microsoft at this point:
“We are ready to ship a low-end and a high-end LumiDroid at the end of Q4. Let’s see how they sell. Maybe we switch…”
Nokia is responsible for 90% of all sales. Lumia is Windows Phone. But, for some reason, they decided to play fair. For me, as a shareholder, that is unfortunate. But since their stock value increased 83% since they announced that Steven Elop will leave Nokia, I am not too unhappy.
Nokia World 2013
Now let’s talk about what we will see tomorrow (22.10.2013). Maybe. And what I wish we would see. As you probably figured out by yourself, TheVerge has a good article about what to expect, so I will not cover all the base specs.
Lumia 2520
The Windows RT Tablet the world has waited for. Not?
The Hope
Since we all know, it is hard to sell a Windows RT device, I really hope that they add free Office, one year of free Nokia Music and a free keyboard+battery dock. The rumored price tag is $499. Offer a $100 mail-in-rebate and this thing could be a viable Chrome Book competitor.
The Dream
In my perfect world, the Nokia Lumia 2520 would use an Intel Bay Trail QuadCore (and therefor real Windows 8.1), a pen and a keyboard+battery dock. Of course, it would also include the already mentioned free Office and free Nokia Music.
Now to the really dreamy part: As a worlds-first, Nokia uses a FullHD-PixelQi display. This enables 100% sunshine-readability and, even more important, 24 hours battery life!
Assumed to be dead
The Cold Reality
Free Office and free Nokia Music could be possible. Maybe they also include the keyboard cover in the package, but the price will be around $499. And at this price point, I don’t think it has a chance against a new iPad. Or the old one.
Windows RT is just nothing a consumer want to pay for.
Lumia 1520
The Nokia Lumia One Note Max.
The Hope and Dream
Let’s combine this, since I really don’t have much faith in any of this:
The Nokia Lumia 1520 wants to be Nokia’s answer to the Samsung Note 3. But the thing is, a good phablet (and the Note is probably the only good phablet) is more than just a very, very big phone. It is a hybrid between a tablet and a phone and will be used differently than a phone.
A stylus comes to mind, which transforms the big phone into the perfect digital notebook. A never ending Moleskine for the creative and productive.
The other part is the software. The stylus needs apps to shine. Notekeeping, drawing, and handwriting recognition are the bare minimum. In addition, the giant screen has to be used. Windows 8 has the ability to show two or more apps at the same time (multitasking) without getting cluttered. A phablet could use something similar.
engadget.com
The Cold Reality
The Nokia Lumia 1520 will be nothing else than a giant phone. While Windows Phone is capable of becoming a phablet OS, I don’t think it is something Nokia could pull off alone.
Asha 500, 502 and 503
From Asha to Asha, from dust to dust…
The Hope
If we can trust @evleaks, Nokia is preparing to launch three “different” new Asha devices. The Asha 500, 502 and 503. All three look the same and all three look like an Asha 501 with a transparent case. I just hope that they have something more to offer. How about a Nokia 515 with the new Asha platform? Those expected three devices are not a “next-generation family of devices”. And that is what Nokia had promised!
The Dream
I would love to see a full QWERTY Asha. They could also bump up the resolution to (at least) 400x240. This way Nokia would be back to the specs of 2012. The Asha 311 had a better resolution than the 501!
Absolutely crazy would be a jump to 640x480 on a 3.5 inch screen (228 PPI).
The Cold Reality
The maximum I would expect is an increased display size. Maybe 3.2 inch with the same old 320x240 resolution. The surprise could be the price. In this category it is even more important than most of the specs. If Nokia could deliver basically the Asha 501 for $65, it could be enough to stay relevant.
Guru
What? That’s crazy!
The Hope
Better late than never? Nokia could enter the MP3 Player market with a device called “Guru”. I hope this is true.
The Dream
On one of the sites we don’t see, there could be a small display which can inform us about the battery status or which song is playing. It would also be used to show the caller ID, because the Guru is obviously also a Bluetooth head-set.
If you have a Nokia Music subscription, you can copy offline Mix Radios to the little helper, for example when you go on a run.
Talking about going on a run, the Guru is also a fitness device with functions like a step counter. All functions work without being paired to a phone, but it syncs with the official Nokia Guru App for Windows 8 and Windows Phone, to manage songs, playlists and your fitness data.
The Cold Reality
Or it is just a Bluetooth multimedia headset, like the Nokia BH-221. In this case it could also loose the display to get cheaper…
The Wildcard
One more thing: Welcome to the future!
The Hopes, the Dreams, the Cold Reality
If there is a wildcard, I hope it will blow us away. Nokia’s consumer facing time should end with a big bang. Like Symbian ended with the 808 PureView.
It would also be great if Nokia would announce that they keep the accessories business, because this way they would still have a foot in the door to the consumer market. And accessories are where the money is.
What do you think?
