I promise to write some original and witty content of my own real soon, honest. But in the meantime, here's a great quote from Russell Beattie:
I think Nokia can [dominate the handset market again]. I think their R&D, the investment in their own chipsets, focus on the enterprise and multimedia and general concentration on the long term is going to pull them through. Motorola and Samsung are kissing carrier asses and producing a million different handsets to see what sticks, but that's not what's going to win in the long run. What's going to win is developing an ecosystem around your brand and platform, and that's what Nokia (to me) is doing. The threat to this, of course, is that the carriers don't like it because it devalues their brand. But these guys are going to be nothing more than "cellular-based ISPs" in a few years anyway.
No, it's the platform, not the pipe, in the long run that's going to rule the day. That's why I'd invest in Nokia now.
All together now! [Gregorian style.] A-m-e-n.
UPDATE: The Economist takes the opposite view (subscription required):
The company with the most to lose [to original design manufacturers like Sendo and BenQ] is Nokia, which has become so powerful that operators and rival handset-makers are keen to take it down a peg or two. "For Nokia to stay on top of the game it will have to adjust," says Brian Modoff, an analyst at Deutsche Bank. Unlike Microsoft and Intel in the PC business, Nokia is not protected by ownership of proprietary standards. To maintain margins and stay ahead of the industry's ever-faster product cycle, says Mr Modoff, it will have to stop doing everything itself. "They will be more of a brand, a design shop, rather than building everything," he says.
Posted by Martin Geddes at 10:09 PMNokia is doing its best to diversify, notably into mobile gaming with its N-Gage handset. At the same time, as handset technology is progressively commoditised, a strong brand will be increasingly important, and nobody has a stronger brand than Nokia. Its recent troubles may turn out to be a blip. But given the seismic shifts now under way in the industry, observes Mr Dean, with Nokia's market share so large "there's only really one way to go."
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