Nokia: "Going the Android Route is like Peeing in your Pants for Warmth"

[SKR]Phoenix · 22 Sep 2010 at 11:21

From this link: http://phandroid.com/2010/09/21/nok...oute-is-like-peeing-in-your-pants-for-warmth/

This quote completely came out of left field and smacked me in the face this morning. Nokia’s Anssi Vanjoki – speaking with Financial Times – states that they aren’t going the Android route because it’s more like being a Finnish boy that pees in his pants to stay warm throughout the winter. It’s easy to just extract that quote and call it a day, but what he means is that using Android as a short-term boost isn’t the best course of action as it won’t sustain over a longer period of time.

His thoughts came as a response to the now-age-old question regarding why Nokia hasn’t adopted Android with his argument essentially being that the market is over-saturated as it is and that manufacturers would be stinting growth in the long run since it’ll be hard for consumers to find meaningful differences from one piece of hardware to another. That would be a sensible conclusion, but I’m guessing HTC’s, Motorola’s, and Samsung’s amazing performance since going all out with Android isn’t being counted here.

It’s quite easy as a company man behind Nokia to downplay a model that you don’t wish to adopt considering your own model has worked for so many years to keep you on top, but to ignore the effect Android has on a lot of these manufacturers is like ignoring a pony standing inside of an Apple store. Moral of the story: it’s foolish to deny reality, and I hope you wake up from this dream world you’ve been living inside of before too long, Anssi.

Oh dear Nokia...

platypus · 22 Sep 2010 at 11:23

Rofl!

iamtheoneneo · 22 Sep 2010 at 11:27

oh dear indeed, i guess there arrogance lets them hide the fact that they have a useless OS and ever diving marketshare...but they still find it appropriate to knock android which is gaining all the time. lmao.

different tech but same principle - you dont hear pc manufactures crying bc every pc out there has a copy of windows.

Cosimo · 22 Sep 2010 at 11:30

Now you know why he is going to leave the company after 19 years.

Temi_D · 22 Sep 2010 at 12:03

Well the meaning of that analogy is that switching to android will only yield short term gains with long term consequences.

While it does make sense it is very harsh and uncalled for. Instead of mouthing off, they should shutup and improve the UI of symbian/release meego

[SKR]Phoenix · 22 Sep 2010 at 12:07

Temi_D said:
Well the meaning of that analogy is that switching to android will only yield short term gains with long term consequences.

While it does make sense it is very harsh and uncalled for. Instead of mouthing off, they should shutup and improve the UI of symbian/release meego

They've had years to improve Symbian and I don't see Meego taking the world by storm either.

I had Nokias for years and stuck by them, but I am sorry to say that since going Android, I won't be going back. I'm not the only one out there in that stance though, am I?

Tunney · 22 Sep 2010 at 12:30

Despite his colourful language, he's right though.

Android is a great operating system but it will commoditise the mobile phone market, turning it into a clone of the PC market. A manufacturer with high overheads (i.e. one based in the US or Europe) won't be able to compete with the slew of low-overhead Chinese manufacturers in the long run. PC manufacturers operate on razor-thin margins these days and barely keep their head above water. Old guards like HP and Compaq have been forced to merge whilst the old grand master, IBM, has gotten itself out of the game completely.

The only PC manufacturer who enjoys a successful and healthy profit per unit is Apple. Apple's success is based on controlling both the software and hardware. They know that they need to differentiate to be profitable and where they differentiate the most is at a software level. It's unsurprising that Apple have been so quick to snuff out all of the commercial Hackintosh attempts.

Even now, who is making any money from Android? Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung and LG certainly aren't. HTC are the only ones to buck the trend and they're based in Taiwan. Unlike Samsung and LG, Nokia don't have other lines of business to prop up their failing phone handset business.

Will Symbian and/or MeeGo be successful? That's debatable. However, you can't fault Nokia for trying to avoid the fate of the PC manufacturers.

Deep · 22 Sep 2010 at 12:34

[SKR]Phoenix;17425611 said:
I had Nokias for years and stuck by them, but I am sorry to say that since going Android, I won't be going back. I'm not the only one out there in that stance though, am I?

Not at all, I am in a similar position

I had a number of SE and the last one was w960i, which was the worst phone I've ever used.

Then I had the 5800 and that was pretty crap.

Now onto HTC Desire, and I just see how it is just better in every aspect!

[SKR]Phoenix · 22 Sep 2010 at 12:46

Thing is, if that is happening (people trying Android), then they are losing customers hand over fist, which is only increasing the Android user base (which most of them will be happy with). A lot of those customers won't ever go back to Nokia, no matter what.

Realistically, how many people would go back to Symbian from Android?

Oh and then they let this chump spout crap like that. I mean, who does he think he is? Steve Jobs?

Tunney · 22 Sep 2010 at 14:07

[SKR]Phoenix;17425920 said:
Thing is, if that is happening (people trying Android), then they are losing customers hand over fist, which is only increasing the Android user base (which most of them will be happy with). A lot of those customers won't ever go back to Nokia, no matter what.

Nokia's smartphone sales increased 41% year-on-year last quarter. For every 1 customer who leaves, they're finding 1.4 new customers.

I doubt they'll change their, debatably arrogant, stance until they see smartphone sales decline.

Wicksta · 22 Sep 2010 at 14:10

Tunney said:
Will Symbian and/or MeeGo be successful? That's debatable. However, you can't fault Nokia for trying to avoid the fate of the PC manufacturers.

I really think they are too late though. I think the smartphone OS market is basically a two horse race and it reminds me of the early video recorder market with iOS being Betamax and Android being VHS.

Nokia missed the boat around the time of the N97 if you ask me.

"andy" · 22 Sep 2010 at 14:39

Wicksta said:
I really think they are too late though.

rubbish. too late for what ?

most people couldnt give a crap about OS . infact most people i know just look :confused:

if 'android' is mentioned to them.

millions of people out there will buy a new nokia because they know its a nokia. millions more will buy it because the camera is good. they are usually priced well and available on every network

love how much stick the new symbian is getting by people who have never tried it too. am i missing this massive feature it doest do that android does ?

Wicksta · 22 Sep 2010 at 15:13

"andy" said:
rubbish. too late for what ?

I personally think they are too late to make a lasting impact on the Smartphone market in the medium term, especially in the higher value end of the market competing against your iPhones, HTC Desires, Samsung Galaxy S's etc..

Their other problem was highlighted in your own post - many of the types of people buying Nokias probably aren't interested in 'Operating systems' and 'App Stores' so there is another valuable source of revenue heading towards the way of Apple and Google.

Quality not quantity of customer is the key here, this is an important factor of most parts of the mobile business be you a handset manufacturer, software company or a mobile operator. And anyway, looking at recent trends it's possible Nokia won't even have quantity to rely on at some point in the not too distant future when it comes to the smartphone market.

Tunney · 22 Sep 2010 at 15:36

Wicksta said:
And anyway, looking at recent trends it's possible Nokia won't even have quantity to rely on at some point in the not too distant future when it comes to the smartphone market.

What recent trends? Nokia went from selling 16.9 million smartphones in Q2 2009 to selling 24 million smartphones in Q2 2010. They added more new customers than any of their rivals.

People seem to think that the smartphone market is a zero-sum game. It's not. It's still a rapidly expanding market with many, many more potential customers than actual customers.

PermaBanned · 22 Sep 2010 at 16:19

Hmm? Oh, sorry, got distracted by the story about the pony

Thing is though, Nokia are still releasing decent phones. But they're overpriced for what they are, if just for two things - ARM11 CPUs and Symbian.

Columbo · 22 Sep 2010 at 20:34

I love Android but I certainly wouldn't want to see it on every handset.

I applaud Nokia for trying to be something different than the rest and I look forward to both the new Symbian & WP7 phones.

I also have to laugh at those people that think that because Nokia aint on the Android bandwagon they'll disappear.

Android is not 'all that' imo and although I do love my Desire, I'm not doing anything on it that I wasn't doing 2/3 years ago, I'm just doing it better.

PermaBanned · 22 Sep 2010 at 21:21

ManCuBuS said:
I love Android but I certainly wouldn't want to see it on every handset.

I applaud Nokia for trying to be something different than the rest and I look forward to both the new Symbian & WP7 phones.

I also have to laugh at those people that think that because Nokia aint on the Android bandwagon they'll disappear.

Android is not 'all that' imo and although I do love my Desire, I'm not doing anything on it that I wasn't doing 2/3 years ago, I'm just doing it better.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not against anything that isn't Android. It's just that Nokia could be making some great phones right now if it weren't for Symbian, a clearly inferior OS that isn't nearly as nice as the open source competition.

Temi_D · 22 Sep 2010 at 21:30

Superewza said:
Don't get me wrong, i'm not against anything that isn't Android. It's just that Nokia could be making some great phones right now if it weren't for Symbian, a clearly inferior OS that isn't nearly as nice as the open source competition.

Apart from Android's iOS like UI, is there anything android can do that Symbian cant?

PermaBanned · 22 Sep 2010 at 21:34

I've got an Android phone and i've used iOS, they're about as different as Symbian and Android. There's plenty Android can do, such as Flash browsers and any other number of things through the much larger selection of apps.

Morba · 22 Sep 2010 at 21:49

Good on nokia. The worst case scenario here is apple ios v android with all other manufacturers being android!