If you want to ask, will Apple mobile phones disappear one day? Everyone will definitely say: Impossible. How can a company with a market value of 2 trillion yuan, the leader in the mobile phone industry, just say that it is gone? Yes, Nokia saw itself this way back then. How did a king who had dominated the global mobile phone market for 15 years collapse?
First of all, it must be admitted that Nokia's success is inseparable from its leadership.
At first, Nokia was just a small Finnish factory that made rubber and paper. But when the industrial revolution came, they gradually transformed into an electronic technology company, selling TVs to spread the brand throughout Europe, and Nokia really became What has become a world-class enterprise is mobile phones. Since 1996, Nokia mobile phones have occupied the largest share of the mobile phone market, and this share has lasted for 15 years.
Among the two models launched by Nokia in 1998, the 6150 was the first mobile phone to support Chinese text message input, and the 6110 was the world's first mobile phone with a built-in game (Snake). Next, it is definitely a fashionable model.
After 2000, people gradually became dissatisfied with mobile phones that could only make calls and send text messages, so the era of transition from feature phones to smart phones began.
In 2002, Nokia launched the model 7650, which was one of the first camera phones to enter the Chinese market. With 300,000 pixels and an ingenious sliding function, it was enough to crush most of its opponents.
In 2003, Nokia launched the classic model of 1100, which set a sales record of 250 million units. Except for the 1110 model launched in 2005, which achieved a flat record, no one has been able to break this record so far.
It can be said that since its peak in 2003, Nokia has become a must-have for trendsetters.
Nokia can achieve such great results not only by its novel design and creative capabilities, but at least half of its military merit must go to the operating system Symbian.
I believe many people subconsciously think of the Internet celebrity word "Symbian" when they hear Symbian. However, few people know that Symbian was the god of all mobile phone manufacturers back then. The Symbian system occupied It has small memory, low power consumption, strong battery life, and requires low hardware configuration. It is not only extremely cost-effective, but also low-cost and has a good user experience. It was perfect at that time.
According to statistics, in 2006, more than 100 million smartphones using the Symbian operating system were sold worldwide.
But while enjoying flowers and applause here, two major events are quietly happening on the other side of the ocean.
First, Scott Forster led his team to develop the IOS mobile operating system at Apple;
Second, there is a thing called Android with 4,000 Sold to Google for US$10,000;
What seemed like an unreachable relationship turned out to be something that would subvert Nokia's status in the future.
Around 2008, Nokia had acquired Symbian. At this time, Apple launched the first iPhone, but it did not even have the most fashionable MMS at the time, except for using a capacitive screen. Other than that, there is nothing new. Looking at Android on the other side, it is a completely open source system with uneven software quality. Obviously, there is no one that can withstand the competition. Nokia at the time did not pay attention at all.
It wasn’t until the iPhone 3G came out in 2008 that Nokia suddenly realized that the capacitive screen was N-level more comfortable than its own touch screen and touch pen, and it was much more comfortable than using its own touch pen or fingernail. , it obviously smells a lot better when you tap it with the pads of your fingers. In addition, the iPhone 3G supports third-party applications, instantly occupying 30% of the U.S. smartphone market. On the other hand, although the open source of Android system makes the application market a bit chaotic, the threshold is low and a large number of followers flock in.
On the other hand, the signature mechanism of the Symbian system prevents many third-party applications from being downloaded. In addition, the Nokia model is complex, with full keyboards, numeric keyboards, and touch screens. These external conditions are undoubtedly beneficial to the development of APPs. A large amount of cost has been added, which has prompted various application developers to gradually switch to other systems.
The appearance design that Nokia was proud of back then has now become a shackle that hinders its progress. It is really a design that succeeds or fails.
Seeing rising stars continue to encroach on market share, Nokia had to find another way out.
In 2011, Nokia and Intel cooperated to launch the meego system, and released the smartphone N9 equipped with this system. The N9 adopts a seamless body, curved glass, and multi-touch without buttons. The capacitive screen, coupled with the highest level of resolution among all models at the time, and the interactive design that relies on sliding the screen to operate, it is simply a collection of all new trends. No Android or Apple machine has such a futuristic feel. But apart from the surprise, the disappointment came unexpectedly.
In 2010, CEO Elop, who just took office, decided to abandon the meego system and choose Microsoft's WP. Regarding this decision, industry analysts gave two inferences. One is that it may be the first loss in 2011. Second, the newly appointed CEO has a soft spot for his old employer, Microsoft. In short, Elop's decision directly buried Nokia's mobile phone business.
It is reported that Microsoft's WP system only accounted for 1% of the world's users at the time, which made developers who were unwilling to make applications for Nokia even less consider this system.
On the user side, because the application has not been updated for a long time, in the end, a vicious circle occurred. The WP system became cold and the users ran away. This dominant player in the mobile phone market for 15 years saw its market share drop from nearly 50% to less than 4%, and its market value shrank by more than 90%. It eventually sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft for a bargain price of US$7.3 billion.
The death of a mobile phone superstar has made countless Nokia fans lament. The Nokia that couldn't be dropped or smashed, and could defend itself in emergencies, was just gone.
After losing its mobile phone business, Nokia turned to deploying its own communications empire: buying shares in Siemens, then acquiring Alcatel-Lucent, the world's third largest communications service provider, and then merging the two companies with the goal of becoming the world's third largest communications service provider. Two major communication service providers.
In 2006, Nokia and Siemens jointly established Nokia Siemens Networks. Although this company has firmly established itself as the fourth largest company in the world in the field of communication equipment, it has suffered a cumulative loss of billions of dollars in six years, making it a powerful beast.
In 2013, Nokia was struggling to sell its mobile phone business, and a debt of Nokia Siemens Networks was about to mature and faced default. After years of endless investment, Siemens chose to give up. At this time, Nokia planned to spend 1.7 billion euros to buy it out from Siemens and acquire the "losing money".
Coincidentally, Alcatel-Lucent, the world's third largest communications service provider, was also up for sale at the time. However, Nokia was financially strapped at that time. Even if it sold Nokia's mobile phone business, it would not be enough to buy Alcatel-Lucent. As a result, Nokia continued to sell off its "properties". After selling its mobile phone business, Nokia still had three major sectors in its hands: Nokia Siemens Networks, patent licensing business and HERE Maps.
So Nokia made a desperate move and sold its here map, which accounts for nearly 90% of the world's in-vehicle medical navigation systems, to the German automotive giant. After having sufficient funds, it turned around and purchased Alcatel-Lucent for US$16.6 billion.
In this way, Nokia's communications business market share suddenly jumped from 8% to 30%.
During the years when Nokia disappeared, Nokia had more than 1,471 5G standard essential patents, making it second only to Huawei. In addition, Huawei was chased and intercepted, and it successfully picked up the big leak and took advantage of it. Placed a large number of orders and finally completed a gorgeous reversal.
On the other hand, Microsoft, which took over Nokia mobile phones, ultimately failed to revitalize this business. Because of the agreement signed with the Nokia Group, Microsoft has no right to resell Nokia mobile phones to third parties without permission. , so Nokia, which made a comeback, finally took over its own mobile phone brand.
Nokia has recovered its mobile phone business and has made a wonderful turnaround. We are waiting for Nokia mobile phones to come back in a big way, and "Nokia fans" are still there.