Nokia, back (or so) in smartphones – The World

Le Monde | 14/07/2015 at 13h49 • Updated 14/07/2015 at 2:18 p.m. | By Anne Eveno and Sarah Belouezzane

We thought that Nokia had definitely done with mobile phones, products that had his glory and that never again would any smartphone that name. Yet it seems that the Finnish telecommunications giant has not definitively hung up. Monday, July 13, the group formally announced plans to launch in new smartphones under its own brand. The announcement comes just two years after the transfer of the terminal division of the Finnish American Microsoft for $ 7.2 billion (€ 6.5 billion).

The group, led by Rajeev Suri said in a statement want to “identify a partner that could be responsible for all manufacturing, sales and customer service” . No question thus for Nokia to launch back into the expensive business of the assembly and distribution: it is simply here to conclude an agreement with a partner able to handle all these tasks

<. p> However, one should be able to buy the Nokia brand smartphones before the fourth quarter 2016. An agreement with Microsoft states that Finland is not allowed to market a smartphone that name before that.

30,000 patents

Nokia’s renewed interest in the consumer market had already been observed in November 2014, but on the niche shelves this time. At the time, the Finnish announced the upcoming launch of the N1, a slate running the latest version of Android, the Google operating system.

As it will most likely be the case for smartphones, Nokia only design the device. The assembly, marketing, warranty and even the management of after-sales service are the prerogative of Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturer that also manufactures the Apple iPhone. It is a simple licensing agreement binding the two groups in this new operation

But with its Nokia Technologies division. – Already behind the N1 project – the Finnish group is at the head a portfolio of approximately 30,000 patents, mainly related to the world of mobile and communications technologies. A treasure of great interest many smartphone manufacturers.

“ Nokia has assets such as patents, but also an ability to design smart phones. The group will undoubtedly be a very attractive partner “ said Daniel Gleeson firm IHS

Read also:. Nokia, industrial follower of radical new departures

Partnership with LG

For the analyst, the group could even draw additional revenues of this association. “ Why let these assets sleep when they could profitable even what minimum , he says, in some parts of the world such as emerging countries, brand is still very strong and terminals could sell in significant number. “

In the middle of June, Nokia and LG have signed a partnership that South Korea could use some Nokia licenses, without specifying which.

Aujourd Nokia hui is primarily a telecoms equipment: it builds and sells mobile networks for operators. The recent acquisition by the Finnish group of French-American Alcatel Lucent has also aim to strengthen this activity and turn it into a European champion new set of infrastructure.

But it was not always thus. For years, the networks division did not represent much and it was the terminal that pulled the profits of the group.

For fourteen years, from the late 1990s to the years 2011 to 2012, Nokia ruled the market for mobile telephony. With 33 10, a legendary model, the manufacturer had flooded the world, clinging to the ears of teenagers like those of business leaders.

Alas, the group failed to negotiate smartphone bend, an innovative product popularized by the Apple iPhone in 2007. He has not been able to adapt to new consumer preferences fond of touch screens and ergonomic interfaces.

Nokia has yet stepped up attempts to break into this new market. In 2012, the group then led by Stephen Elop, has signed a partnership agreement with Microsoft to ship Windows Phone, the OS of the US in its smartphones. Thus was born the Lumia range.

Consumer Brand

On a hypercompetitive market smartphones, as demonstrated by Microsoft’s difficulties with its Windows Phone with a market share ceiling below 3%, or at a different level than Samsung – caught between Apple for the high end and Chinese manufacturers for the entry and midrange – Nokia limits financial risk by playing the license card.

“ For Nokia, the benefits of a license agreement are considerable, according to a note of IHS. The group can re-enter the mobile market, regardless of the supply chain, workforce management in the factories, the stock control or the distribution. Especially in selling its mobile business to Microsoft, Nokia emerged from a historical background and can start again. “

And if the phones named Nokia prevail buyers of votes, the group will succeed the feat to remain in the heart and minds as a consumer brand.