Losing Ground?
Going forward Nokia has its task cut out in the competitive India handset market
Nokia had a tough FY 2013-14 in India as it struggles for a comeback in the India handset market. It was dethroned by Samsung the year before (FY12-13) in the overall handset et market in India but still leads the feature phone market. For Nokia, the highlights of last fiscal primarily include its acquisition by Microsoft and the tax row over the Chennai plant in India. Overall, it went down by 18 percent YoY, but the company’s smartphone market share increased by 5% as of Q1 of 2014, as it brought its Lumia range to new categories and new price points. Its entry level Lumia devices (Lumia 520 & Lumia 525) were a hit among consumers thereby making Windows No. 2 operating system in India. It also entered the tablet and the phablet category during last fiscal with the launch of Lumia 1320, 1520 in India. Apart from expanding portfolio in smartphone segment it also broadened its Asha range with new launches like Asha 500, 502 and 503 and also launched the new Asha OS that offered signature Nokia experiences like Nokia Music; and also delivered a faster and more intuitive mobile experience. The company brought innovation in the
entry level feature phone segment with launches like 108 the lowest cost Nokia camera’ 109 the lowest cost internet phone; 105 the lowest cost color screen device; and 114 the lowest cost Facebook phone.
Not only it worked on providing its end consumers with a bunch of new innovative feature in music, location and camera, it was equally focused on Enterprise segment and along with Microsoft focused on shifting business customers to Windows Phone by delivering great Microsoft business applications and services like Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Skype and Office 365 as well as business-level security. However, the number of apps on Windows store is still an area of concern. It has close to 275,000+ apps on the windows store, one-third of what its competing operating systems like Google and Apple have on their store. To address this issue, the company has launched marketing programs focused on its apps and developer community such as “Your wish is my App” and “DVLUP” initiative which is a unique rewards program for Windows Platform developers across 43 countries globally, designed to confront the industry-wide challenge of app discoverability and uses gamification as the pivot.
Going forward Nokia has its task cut out in the competitive India handset market. It has to increase its portfolio of Lumia devices and bring these to lower price points. This apart, it has to address the app ecosystem on its Windows store and reduce the time-to-arrival of the popular apps on the Windows app store. The focus on vernacular apps and regionbased marketing can help in reaching wider audience. Also, it has to educate its customers and familiarize them with the Windows operating system in a market like India which is android dominated and most of consumers think smartphone is synonymous with android. To grow in a market like India where smartphone adoption is increasing at a fast rate, Nokia has to address the above mentioned issues with speed.