Nokia last week ran its first Nokia World event
since Microsoft made public its intention to acquire the company. During the
event, held in Abu Dhabi, Nokia announced the launch of six new devices: the
Lumia 2520, a Windows RT-based tablet; the Lumia 1520 and 1320, two Windows 8
smartphones with six-inch screens on the 'phablet' form factor; and the Asha
500, 502 and 503, three new touchscreen devices using the Asha software
platform.
According to IDC, the pace at which Nokia has
developed and launched new devices since adopting the Windows Phone platform
continues to impress. Nokia's strategy regarding its Lumia range of
Windows-based devices is becoming increasingly clear: it is all about the range.
Firstly, build a wide range of devices. Secondly, introduce technological innovations
at the high end, and then disseminate those innovations down through the range.
Until very recently, Nokia's Lumia range had not
encompassed two of the fastest-growing form factors in today's device market:
phablets and tablets. With last week's announcements, those gaps have been
filled – in the case of phablets with two very distinct devices. "The
Lumia 1520 is an attractive-looking phablet with high-end specifications,"
says Adriana Rangel, research director for systems and infrastructure solutions
at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. "However, it will be competing
head-on with Samsung's Galaxy Note 3, and we see no obvious standout feature
that looks likely to persuade large numbers of people who are in the market for
a Note 3 to change their minds and choose a Lumia 1520 instead."
"Nokia's lower-priced phablet, the Lumia 1320,
is a more intriguing proposition," continues Rangel. "As an LTE
device with a screen big and sharp enough to watch a whole movie in comfort for
$339 (excluding taxes and subsidies), it has the potential to make a lot of
phablet buyers look twice. This particular device could be an especially good
fit for the Middle East market as many operators now offer LTE coverage and
will be interested in an LTE-compatible device that is capable of providing a
good video-streaming experience at a mid-range price point."
Nokia's first tablet based on Windows RT, the Lumia
2520, is certainly a distinctive entrant to the tablet market in terms of its
looks, its software platform, and its built-in LTE connectivity. But it is a
little on the heavy side, especially with the addition of its cover accessory –
although since the extra weight is largely due to the additional battery, there
is at least a clear trade-off between comfort and utility. In this guise, at
$650 including the cover, the Lumia 2520 could be well positioned as a PC
replacement, so long as the Microsoft Office applications perform well enough on
top of the Windows RT platform.
Although a clear breakthrough remains elusive, sales
volumes of Lumia devices are building up steadily, and these new devices will
further contribute to the momentum – especially if they are positioned
effectively for business users looking to replace BlackBerry devices. In the
long term, though, the volume opportunity lies in markets that are entering the
high-growth phase of smartphone penetration – which is the case for several
countries in the Middle East and Africa region.
Nokia addresses this opportunity with its Asha
device range, through which the vendor continues its strategy of making
feature-phones look, feel, and behave like smartphones, but at lower price
points. The three new touchscreen Asha models, 500, 502, and 503, join the 501
(the device through which Nokia introduced its re-engineered software platform)
to form a range of four devices that offer the same user experience at
different specs and price points. A new hardware design, using colored plastic
encased in a transparent polycarbonate block, gives the new devices something
of a premium feel for their price band. All support WiFi, and all support the
key social/communications apps that are popular in the markets at which they
are primarily targeted. These already included Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Viber, Line, and WeChat – and Nokia has announced that WhatsApp is now
available, too. The Asha range offers an increasingly attractive alternative to
low-priced Android devices in emerging smartphone markets, particularly due to
their ability to minimize data volume usage and thus user operating costs.
There could also be substantial potential in these
markets for low-priced Lumia devices. The existing Lumia 520 goes some way
towards addressing this opportunity; but the next phase in Nokia's strategy of
building the range should include a refresh of the Lumias at the lower end of
the price scale. With last week's Lumia announcements, Nokia has addressed the
trend toward 'big' at the high end. Next, it needs to anticipate a new wave of
demand for 'small' – but sophisticated and powerful.
