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A brief glimpse of Nokia's popularity outside the Western world
It's really quite crazy. It's like everyone is just ignoring that huge, 40% slice of the pie that says "SYMBIAN." Seriously, if you read more than one or two tech blogs, you're led to believe that the iPhone dominates the smartphone market, with Android pulling ahead, or nipping at its heels, depending on which statistics you read. Who uses a BlackBerry, anyway? And Nokia... Nokia... hmm... that name rings a bell...
Now, take a look at China, which now has over 400,000,000 users on the Internet. As of June 2010, it also has 277,000,000 mobile Internet users, and almost all of those are Nokia/Symbian OS users. The chart above comes from a recent study by iResearch, and it shows that 65% of mobile Internet users visit the Nokia OVI store, and 58% visit the China Mobile-operated Mobile Market.
The point I'm trying to make is that, if you look beyond the continual PR orgies that Android and iOS enjoy, the world view is very different. If you look beyond your normal news sources, beyond your comfort zone and national borders, you will see that Nokia is a very serious contender indeed.
Comments
25
Subscribe to commentsMDFKJan 20th 2011 6:53AM
Never liked those PR orgies anyway... :)
Sebastian AnthonyJan 20th 2011 10:10AM
@MDFK I wish I was invited to more... :P
Naresh VJan 20th 2011 7:05AM
Nokia is the clear leader in India too.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 20th 2011 10:09AM
@Naresh V Yea, I think it's the same throughout all of east/south Asia (except very affluent areas like Singapore, I guess!)
It may also be that Nokia has far superior distribution deals in those areas.
Steven XMJan 20th 2011 7:22AM
Nokia, market leader in buggy whips.
Rurik BradburyJan 20th 2011 8:31AM
@Steven XM Indeed - only snobs think that the automobile is better.
ankit hahJan 20th 2011 7:34AM
Whats more shocking is that android(Google) is gaining more market share than ios(apple).despite being a newcomer as compared to apple.
future of NOKIA is diminishing.i wish it r.i.p.
jonJan 20th 2011 8:29AM
It's because only affluent Westerners can afford phones with enough grunt to run Android or iOS. http://gizmodo.com/5634258/the-most-popular-phone-in-the-world
kojo87Jan 20th 2011 1:16PM
@jon
the only reason you can afford an iPhone or powerful Android phone is because the service providers subsidize the price over your 2 year contract. they dangle a $600 phone in front of your for less than $200 and everyone bites. if everyone had to buy their phone outright, you would see a lot more crappy old Nokias and Motorolas. we've also been brainwashed into thinking we all need the fastest phone out there when all we do is check our email and browse Facebook. everyone always thinks they need the best when they really don't. phones, computers, cars/trucks, houses, appliances, everything.
ChrisSskJan 20th 2011 8:33AM
Nokia is selling lots of phones, including Symbian smartphones but the problem they are facing is that their devices are in the mid to low price range, so they dont have the high profits other smartphone makers have.
Also about Symbian, I believe most people buy the phones because they are Nokia, they dont care much about the OS. Unlike Android where the OS is the selling point.
NeoprimalJan 20th 2011 8:35AM
Nokia makes feature phones - not dependent on data/internet access. Android and iOS are smartphones, which are somewhat opposite in definition. Until cell phone 'use' entails automatically, data/internet access the world over, Android and iOS can't really dominate Nokia.
I still think Android will reach places that the iPhone won't, just because of the walled garden that is iOS, but I doubt Nokia will be dethroned any time soon as a market leader on a worldwide scope.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 20th 2011 9:06AM
@Neoprimal This is all about 'app store access' -- not the whole feature/smartphone argument :)
The graph shows that 65% of mobile Internet users access the OVI Store (app store) -- 9% access the iPhone App Store.
BazJan 20th 2011 9:10AM
Its hardly surprising that Media (online and traditional press) that cater to North American readers spend most of their time promoting (sorry - 'reporting') those products that have been developed by/for that market. Microsoft, Apple and Google all benefit from this myopic view of technology as reported in North America - while the rest of the world often wonders what the heck this Media is going on about.
For example, banging on about how much Apple's market share / profits have increased is all a bit rich when their products like Macs barely compete with Linux in much of the world or, as in the graph in this article shows, their iPhones barely break 10% of the market in China - where the things are built.
Just because North American consumers are uninformed about products and standards elsewhere does not make these products inferior.
NielsJan 20th 2011 9:51PM
Totally agree that *currently * NOK is the overall leader but do not forget to be a leader in biz you need to look at where the puck is going tomorrow an not where it is today. AAPL and to less degree Android ate doing this; Nokia much more questionable although they are trying w meego but it is messy, unrefined and yrs late..
jefJan 20th 2011 10:07AM
Please consider the REAL value in this - talk money.
It is nice that the people are VISITING the nokia Ovi Store. Also nice if they decide to download something. But do they BUY something? If so, what are the volumes we are talking about?
Furthermore - latest developments on the forefront of Nokia (reviewing Android as an option & quitting Symbian; slowing down maemo production) show that the smartphone market is not largely supported through Symbian; it even more is looking like there is a low-end smartphone market growing in BRIC countries with less 'oomph' in the machine and the current higher-end smartphone solutions brought by the usual suspects.
In a nutshell - this looks nice but proves nothing. Please visit a service like www.distimo.com on what real figures are in sales & deployments across platforms...
Sebastian AnthonyJan 20th 2011 10:08AM
@jef CAPITALISM 4 LIFE
RyzvonusefJan 20th 2011 1:18PM
@Sebastian Anthony
Thanks for the article Seb, What's interesting is that China Mobile is also joining the MeeGo initiative, and I heard they were working on an app store deal with Nokia, so I guess the first two numbers will merge or something.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2010/11/china-mobile-joins-linux-foundation.php
Btw, you gotta check this out Seb, I guess it will help clarify the appeal of Nokia in China, for example:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/20/bmw-gets-nokia-c7-remote-control-james-bond-can-eat-his-heart-o/
jefJan 20th 2011 10:11AM
And one more thing:
MMarket is.... wait for it... OPhone! Which is Android, actually.... The custom version of the Android platform launched by China Mobile
ProlornJan 20th 2011 5:40PM
@jef That piece of information certainly changes how the graph looks. I think you ought to note this, Sebastian.
Sebastian AnthonyJan 21st 2011 5:21PM
@kojo87 Kojo is WISE!