IS NOKIA STILL

CONNECTING
PEOPLE?
 Nokia’s Target
“Leader but now difficult for it to
sustain its leadership.”
Almost 14 years back when NOKIA decided
to make in moods into the Indian sub-
continent, it had unique vision. This tyical
dream was to ensure a cell phone around
every buffalo’s neck instead of traditional
bell. Sounds interesting! A phone call and you
come to know where they are growing. Well,
Nokia might not have been able to attain
that level with buffalos yet, but it surely
has accomplished the task with humans.
 Nokia in Market
Despite high competition, Nokia happens
to be the undisputed leader with a
market share in excess of 70% in
mobile handset market. In fact, the
chances are that 8 out of the 10 people
in India go for the Nokia if they buy
their first phone.
 Why majority of People
go for Nokia?
The reason is simple- The trust factor! . Another
important factor that works in the favour of
Nokia is that it has a wide product portfolio and it
is being able to be relevent across categories.
Nokia is a company that has a phone model at a
price gap of Rs.50.And it’s not just present in all
categories possible but it is the only handset maker
that is able to dictate terms in all these segments.
Nokia is consistently working towards
understanding consumer needs and aspirations and
bringing out devices that fulfil these requirements.
Success in India

For anybody in Nokia’s shoes, this is like an ideal

time, but to sustain its leadership there are few things
Nokia needs to keep a close eye on. Firstly Nokia
should not forget that one of the reason for its
success in India is not just its own efforts but also
because there wasn’t enough competition to give this
Finish giant a solid blow. Certainly at every point of
time Nokia had atleast one or two breakthrough
models like 1100,6600.
 Competition with other
brands
Nokia’s N-series has been itself a complete show
stealer. However, the competitors never had such
iconic phones able to sustain them. Although
Motorola came close with the RAZR to some extent,
but it was enable to sustain company with
forthcoming models such as ROKR, KRZR,KRZR 2.
But the situation is no more same with competition
flooding the market with handsets across all
categories .
 Competition in price
Moreover, Nokia is still vulnerable in the mid range
segment between Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 16,000. This is the
only segment in which Nokia is not a clear leader at
present. Fortunately, there is none either, but Sony
Ericsson through its W-series and K-series is emerging
fast in this segment. In addition there are korean
companies, Samsung, and LG who through their metal
range have also started gaining momentum especially in
past 6-7 months. Further, the situation might change
dramatically with the entry of iPhone. It is rumoured
that it would be priced in the range of Rs. 8,000 to Rs.
18,000 and is expected to be a better product than any
of the existing phones.
Overall Standing of Nokia in
International Market
One of the upside, it’s performance worldwide has
improved during the last year. Nokia was world’s fifth
most valuable brand after coca-cola, Microsoft , IBM
and General Electric in 2007 and its brand worth
equality is 2100 billions rupees. However, there is still no
resting for Nokia. It should continue to focus on its core
strength that is being relevant across platform and
offer vast product portfolio if it wants to sustain its
market leadership.