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RIP Nokia

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 12 Nov 2014
The Lumia 535 sports front and back cameras, and runs on a quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor.
The Lumia 535 sports front and back cameras, and runs on a quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor.

The end of an era has arrived, as Microsoft yesterday launched the first Lumia that does not carry the Nokia branding.

The 5-inch Lumia 535, which sports front and back cameras, and runs on a quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, is being launched about a year after Microsoft put a EUR5.44 billion offer on the table to buy out the Finnish manufacturer's flagging handset unit.

That move effectively split the company in half, leaving behind Nokia Siemens Networks, Advanced Technologies and map unit Here.

At the same time as the new device was launched, the @Nokia Twitter handle posted: "We're saying goodbye soon to Microsoft Lumia. The #Nokia team will share the continuing Nokia story with you soon," and referred followers to the @Lumia handle.

Had to happen

World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck says the end of an era for Nokia, which has been in existence since 1865, "is quite a sad moment actually, but it was inevitable". The market has been expecting Microsoft to ditch the brand name since early September when news came out that the Nokia label would be killed.

Goldstuck says it is a "blessing in disguise" that Nokia itself came up with the Lumia brand as this allows for continuity and for the handsets to be recognised in the market as they were being referred to as Lumia on its own. However, he says Microsoft will lose a lot of the goodwill built up by the Nokia name.

There were several Nokia handsets that defined the cellphone market, from the 2110 to the 6310, which were two of the "all-time great" phones, says Goldstuck. "People remember them fondly." ICT veteran Adrian Schofield adds there was a stage when Nokia devices "were the standard by which all other phones were judged".

Calculated

Goldstuck says there was a stage when Nokia ruled, and it was the number one handset until a few years ago, a position it still holds locally. Now, however, Microsoft will start seeing sales fall off because the brand has been done away with, he adds.

According to the IDC's August Worldwide Quarterly Phone Tracker report, Microsoft's Windows Phone is the third most used operating system, with 2.5% of the market, lagging Android (84.7%) and iOS, which has 11.7%.

Schofield adds in today's fast-moving innovative world, companies must work harder and harder if they want to stay at the top, as they need to retain unique value and a cachet that makes people want to own their products. To a degree, Apple, BMW and Microsoft all do this, while Nokia failed to retain that edge, he says.

The end of Nokia marks a transition in which Microsoft recognises it is no longer a question of the device, but what it can do, and that is where the software company has taken control, says Schofield. He anticipates the Lumia name - and others like Nextbook ? being dropped in favour of the Microsoft name.

Goldstuck says the Nokia brand will disappear completely from consumers' pockets once the entry-level devices are phased out, and Microsoft should rather keep the name for base handsets as Nokia's inherent value was in its brand.

Microsoft's move was risky, but calculated, says Goldstuck, adding Nokia Networks for the first time branded itself as Nokia at this week's AfricaCom.

Timeline:

1865: Mining engineer Fredrik Idestam sets up his first wood pulp mill at the Tammerkoski Rapids in south-western Finland, with a second a few years later on the banks of the Nokianvirta river, which inspires him to name his company Nokia Ab in 1871.

1898: Eduard Pol'on founded Finnish Rubber Works, which later becomes Nokia's rubber business, making everything from galoshes to tyres.

1912: Arvid Wickstr"om sets up Finnish Cable Works, the foundation of Nokia's cable and electronics business. In 1962, it makes its first electronic device in-house: a pulse analyser for use in nuclear power plants.

1963: Cable Works starts developing radio telephones for the army and emergency services - Nokia's first foray into telecommunications.

1981: The launch of the Nordic Mobile Telephone service, the world's first international cellular network and the first to allow international roaming.

1982: Nokia introduces the first car phone - the Mobira Senator - to the network.

1 July 1991: Finnish prime minister Harri Holkeri makes the world's first GSM call, using Nokia equipment. A year later, its first digital handheld GSM phone, the Nokia 1011, is launched.

1992: Nokia starts to sell off its rubber, cable and consumer electronics divisions.

1994: The 2100 range is launched, the first feature phones to feature the Nokia Tune ringtone. The tones are based on Gran Vals, a classical guitar piece composed by Francisco Tarrega in the 19th century. The 2100 series sells more than 20 million phones globally, after an initial target of 400 000.

1998: Nokia is the world leader in mobile phones.

1999: The Nokia 7110 is launched. It is capable of rudimentary Web-based functions, including e-mail.

2001: Nokia launches its first phone with a built-in camera.

2002: The group launches its first 3G phone.

2005: Nokia sells its billionth phone - a Nokia 1100 - in Nigeria, and global mobile phone subscriptions pass two billion.

2010: Nokia falls off the top of the leader board, appoints Stephen Elop as president and CEO, and starts with a rethink.

February 2011: Nokia joins forces with Microsoft to strengthen its position in the smartphone market and starts adopting the new Windows Phone 7 operating system, with the Symbian platform gradually being side-lined.

October 2011: Launches its first Nokia with Windows Phone, the Nokia Lumia 800 and the Nokia Lumia 710.

October 2013: Bought by Microsoft.

(Source for timeline: Nokia)

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