Nokia’s Mobile Strategy @ Mobile World Congress

I was fortunate to be able sit in on a few keynotes at Mobile World Congress 2012. One of them was Nokia’s Stephen Elop. From where he stands, Nokia has a great opportunity in front of them and they are certainly going to latch onto it. They truly see themselves as differentiated from the rest of the pack with their assets and strategies.

First things first - can Nokia even execute on a strategy. He went at it several times and in all the reading I’m doing the message is consistent:  Nokia has increased it’s cadence and plans to release more often and faster than ever before.

So where is Nokia’s opportunity?

It’s a battle of ecosystem: Apple, Android and Microsoft. For Nokia, Android is the competition so this is where they are aiming. With this line of thinking, Microsoft is a strong number three or number two. Those three companies have the depth to pick the ecosystem battle. Kids, stay home it’s going to get ugly.

One tidbit he did share that I really clued in on is that Nokia is operator friendly. This is a really good card to have up an underdog’s sleeve.

What is going to be the differentiator about this ecosystem?

1. Apps – Today’s apps are good. Tomorrow’s apps are different. The bulk of the uptake in apps is in emerging countries. The apps of tomorrow will have to be locally relevant. The life we enjoy here is not the life that mobile users of emerging countries have. This is something Nokia understands better than all players out there. Apps are to be shared socially, stimulate viral app exchange and sustain apps economy.
2. Horizontal platform – Nokia is gunning for location based services platform. A search engine is the what, the social network is the who, and Nokia’s LBS platform is the where. So for Nokia, life is truly a journey and they intend to be there every step of the way!
3. $$$ – What else payment systems. Nokia is the champion of operator billing; they have the setup with 150 operators in 40 countries. Compared to credit card purchase, operator billing is 5x better for app monetization. We have to remember emerging economies and the young mobile users - they don’t have a credit card but they do have a bill from their operator.

Nokia is making the right moves. The new phones are getting great reviews. Lumia 900 winning best of show at CES is a first for Nokia. Windows Phone has great net promoter scores and positive reviews. Nokia understands well the emerging markets. They are a huge player there and this is where the next chapter will be played. They are already coming up with cheaper hardware that will run Windows Phone 7 with the Lumia 610, and even cheaper is coming. They see the Lumia 610 as the upgrade from a feature phone which more and more people are doing and accelerating in developed countries. All in all - I like Nokia’s odds.