Samsung tearing it up in India
Sometimes I wonder if death can come soon enough to Nokia. Seems like any advantage they have -- or had -- in hardware, design, brand name, distribution, reationships with carriers, availability, are all being consumed by some sort of corporate flesh-eating disease.
MeeGo is dead. The company has told us that Symbian isn't even worth them holding onto. Windows Phone remains Windows Phone. If not for Microsoft's money, and the fear the industry still has about the company, as if since they were once Mike Tyson the guy who demolished Michael Spinks in under two minutes let's ignore that they are now Michael Tyson the guy who plays a parody of himself in those Hangover movies, well…then we would all view Windows Phone as nothing more than the latest version of Palm OS.
I continue to believe that Nokia's name and distribution and hardware capabilities and design capabilities and relationships with carriers will carry them through their current retrenchment. They will, again, be relevant; a maker of smartphones that people buy even when they have a choice. I believe that, but as I read articles like this one out of India, which shows Samsung nipping at Nokia's heels, I question those beliefs.
NEW DELHI: Korean mobile handset maker is catching up fast with its Finnish competitor Nokia< on the back of a strong growth in smartphones and feature phones in India.
According to the latest figures made available by the Voice & Data study, Samsung posted a growth of 21.7 per cent to register revenues of Rs 5,720 crore in 2010-11 from India, from Rs 4,700 crore in the previous fiscal. Nokia on the other hand had a flat growth, with revenues of Rs 12,929 crore in 2010-11 from India compared to Rs 12,900 in the previous fiscal, according to the Voice & Data study.
Though Nokia remains the market leader in India with a 39 per cent share, its dominance is under pressure, say experts. According to industry sources, Nokia's market share has is 37.5 per cent in January-July this year. Its market share stood at 49.3 per cent in 2010. Its competitor Samsung's market share has increased to 28 per cent in first seven months. In 2010, Samasung's had a market share of 20.1 per cent, sources said.
Lastly, let's not just focus on Nokia's failures. They built a global market back when, frankly, there wasn't the money, wasn't the competition there is now. Even now, they don't appear ready for a fight. Samsung, however, has over the past year, become Android's version of the Mike Tyson of old. Nokia, Blackberry and Apple know this. The other Android handset makers, I bet, will soon discover that Samsung isn't just standing up to non Android handset makers, but is putting the hurt on just about everyone.