Nokia Unveils Windows 7 Netbook

By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek
September 2, 2009 04:45 PM

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) on Tuesday announced that its new Booklet 3G netbook will be powered by Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s Windows 7 operating system — a move that should help Redmond bolster its presence in the compact computing space.Buyers of the Nokia Booklet 3G, which is powered by an Intel Atom processor, can choose either Windows 7 Starter Edition, Home Premium, or Professional. System prices start at $810, placing the offering in the higher end of the netbook price range. more…

Nokia to Launch Netbook Computer

Wall Street Journal

By Joel Sherwood and Lorraine Luk

August 25, 2009

In a bid to bolster sagging sales, Nokia Corp. unveiled a netbook Monday, marking an entry into a fast-growing but crowded sector that is blurring the lines between PC companies and handset makers.

The Nokia Booklet 3G, a mini-laptop using Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software, will be a “full-function” personal computer with high-speed mobile Internet access capability, Nokia said. The company declined to comment on pricing, availability or detailed specifications of the device ahead of a media event Sept. 2.

Nokia’s move, which comes after the company announced an alliance with Microsoft earlier this month, highlights increased consumer demand for products that fuse portable computing, telecommunications and music technology, and marks a significant strategic shift, said Ranjit Atwal, principal research analyst for the PC industry at Gartner Inc.

“It’s not going to be a huge compared with its mobile portfolio, but strategically it’s where devices are headed,” Mr. Atwal said, pointing to the convergence of PC-like functions together with the ability to communicate. He added the key task for Nokia will be how it will differentiate its offering from rivals.

Espoo, Finland-based Nokia is the world’s dominant maker of mobile phones, with a 38% share of the total global market. However, it has recorded declines in the average selling price of its handsets for the past six quarters amid increased competition for its high-end phones from Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Research in Motion Ltd.’s Blackberry.

Nokia has also ceded market share to Asian rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co., which makes both PCs and mobile phones. Meanwhile, PC makers are moving into the smart phones, devices that offer multimedia functions such as Web browsing, email and video conferencing.

Taiwan’s Acer Inc., one of the world’s biggest PC makers, in February launched its first lineup of smart phones. Dell Inc. became the latest PC maker to consider a foray into handsets, saying last Monday it is looking at offering cellphones through an agreement with China’s biggest telecom operator, China Mobile Ltd.

PC makers say the move makes sense because smart phones are increasingly offering computing functions and margins are more than double that of traditional PCs.

Analysts say, however, that PC makers are unlikely to reap significant benefits in the handset sector in the near term as they need to develop better relationships with mobile operators to sell their products. It will also take time to develop differentiated products and market their own brands in a segment where consumers already have many choices. But many agree that longer-term, PC makers have a chance to gain market share, which would generate a new source of revenue growth and improve overall profitability.

“A growing number of people want the computing power of a personal computer with the full benefits of mobility,” Kai Oistamo, Nokia’s executive vice president for devices, said in a statement. “We are in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us.”

“It looks a more premium device than low end,” said Gartner’s research director for mobiles, Carolina Milanesi, noting that operators also want to improve data revenue, though it remains to be seen how the device will be marketed and what sort of subsidies may be available. About 2.5 million netbooks were sold in Europe last quarter, according to Gartner figures.

The fact that the device will be based on Windows is a positive, as there had been some concern that it would use the “aging” Symbian platform, said FIM analyst Michael Schroder in Helsinki, but he cautioned that Nokia “will enter head to head with strong competitors in a tough market.”

Microsoft, Nokia Alliance Doesn’t Mean End of Windows Mobile

eWEEK

Microsoft, Nokia Alliance Doesn’t Mean End of Windows Mobile

By Nicholas Kolakowski

August 13, 2009

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Windows/Microsoft-Nokia-Alliance-Doesnt-Mean-End-of-Windows-Mobile-347508/

Microsoft and Nokia formed a partnership to load a mobile version of Microsoft Office onto Nokia smartphones, the better to compete against RIM’s BlackBerry, and analysts immediately began discussing how the alliance would weaken Microsoft Windows Mobile. However, Microsoft had shown signs that it fully intends to keep backing Windows Mobile, even if the operating system has a small share of the smartphone market.

Immediately after Microsoft and Nokia announced a partnership to load a mobile version of Microsoft Office onto Nokia smartphones, debates erupted online as to what the alliance would mean for Microsoft Windows Mobile, Redmond’s own mobile operating system.

Under the terms of the agreement, the mobile Microsoft Office applications will come pre-loaded onto Nokia Eseries smartphones, allowing out-of-the-box functionality for the business-centric devices. Nokia and Microsoft would later port the application platform onto other smartphones.

That porting of Office functionality onto a competing mobile operating system has drawn certain analysts to the conclusion that, while the alliance will allow both Microsoft and Nokia to compete more heartily against RIM, it leaves Windows Mobile somewhat isolated.

Even before the announcement, it seemed as if Microsoft was designing the upcoming version of its mobile operating system, Windows Mobile 6.5, with the intention of making an aggressive unilateral push against the Apple iPhone, Palm Pre and other smartphones. Mobile 6.5’s new features include improved touch capabilities, allowing the user to navigate through tapping and other gestures, as well as customizable widgets.

But certain analysts now see Microsoft as retreating a bit from its original intention of going it alone in the mobile arena, particularly with regard to the enterprise.

“I see [the agreement] as a tacit admission from Microsoft that WinMo [Windows Mobile] hasn’t made the grade,” Nick Jones, an analyst with Gartner, wrote in a blog posting following the joint announcement. “Imagine you’re Steve Ballmer, and in two years’ time WinMo was still fourth in smartphone market share. How much longer do you keep throwing money at it?”

In an interview with company spokespeople following the announcement, neither Microsoft nor Nokia would comment on any structuring within the deal that would allow the mobile Office side to proceed without being affected by competition on the OS side of the equation. With both Nokia and Microsoft feeling pressure from Apple and RIM in the marketplace, however, the alliance may take priority over other concerns.

An August report from research firm Gartner found that, while industry-wide smartphone sales had increased by 27 percent during the second quarter of 2009, Nokia experienced decidedly softer-than-expected results for its newly launched N97 smartphone. Nokia and Microsoft both saw their shares of the smartphone OS market decline, to 51 percent and 9 percent, respectively. 

Click here for more information on the Nokia N97 smartphone

Tiny market-share for Windows Mobile aside, a number of analysts see Microsoft sticking behind the system.

“I don’t think the news necessarily hurts OEMs who have historically produced [Windows Mobile] devices, except that they can now expect stronger competition from Nokia,” Chris Schreck, an analyst with IMS Research, said in an email to eWeek. “The tight integration with Microsoft products is especially important as Nokia eyes the North American smartphone market, where Windows Mobile is strongest.”

Nor does Schreck think that a mobile version of Office will necessarily hurt Microsoft Mobile’s market-share, at least initially.

“I don’t necessarily expect any OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] to drop Windows Mobile tomorrow just because of this announcement,” Schreck said. “There is a huge investment in supporting a platform, whether open source or not, so those decisions tend to happen slowly.”

“However,” Schreck added, “if an OEM was wondering what platforms to support five years from now, the argument for continuing to pay royalties to license Windows Mobile just got a little bit weaker.”

Other analysts see the deal as potentially successful only if Nokia and Microsoft can overcome substantial challenges to preserving or gaining market-share.

“It may ultimately blunt some of the market advantage that BlackBerry has in the enterprise, and may also thwart some of the up and comers,” Jack Gold, an analyst with J. Gold Associates, said in an August 12 research note. “However, it will be incumbent on both Microsoft and Nokia to implement a sound extension to these primary steps if this partnership is to fulfill its full potential.”

“Microsoft will need to establish itself as an interconnectivity and management technology leader across all platforms to be successful,” Gold added.  

Perhaps the surest sign that Microsoft intends to continue backing Windows Mobile, at least in the short-to-medium term, is the launch of the Windows Marketplace for Mobile this fall. Earlier this summer, Microsoft announced that it was opening to developer submissions, and would include a dedicated Business section for enterprise applications. The evident hope is that Windows Mobile will have a large enough portfolio of applications at launch to challenge Palm’s App Catalogue – although the goal of catching up to Apple’s App Store, which has over 65,000 applications, may prove impossible in the short term.