Nokia loses more market share

Finland headquartered Nokia has lost more market share according its first quarter (Q1) for 2011 announced at the weekend.

The loss of more market share was greatly attributed to the formalization of its strategic alliance with Microsoft by signing the agreement outlining the albatross, reports TelecomTv.com.

This, industry observers said, the deal with Microsoft was over-bolted, stressing that first results showed the stripping of the basics that total handset shipments increased by just one percentage point year-on-year.

“Nokia shipped 108.5 million phones of which smartphones accounted for 24.2 million (up 13 per cent year-on-year) while feature phone sales fell back by two per cent to 84.3 million shipments,” part of the report read.The report also showed that over the year under review, Nokia had managed to ramp-up the average selling price of its devices at €65, about N13,000; a five per cent increase.

“That’s the good news, now for the rest,” the report said.Noteworthy is that Nokia’s market share continued to decline and when final figures are released within the next few weeks they are expected to show that it will have fallen again, this time from the 35 per cent recorded a year ago to 30 per cent now.To put things in perspective analysts are predicting the total market sales of mobile devices will rise by 16 per cent year-on-year and Nokia is treading water as its rivals swim happily away.

The iPhone and the Blackberry continue to take market share as do handsets from HTC, Samsung and LG.

Meanwhile, Nokia Nigeria recently reiterated support for the Social Innovation Camp, which held in Lagos.

Head of Communications, Nokia West Africa, Mr. Osagie Ogunbor disclosure this in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online, saying that the support was in line with established reputation for innovation by the mobile manufacturer.

According to him, Nokia partnered with a social enterprise venture, Co-Creation Hub to provide a platform for young Nigerians to come up with business ideas that also address some of Nigeria’s social issues.

He noted that Co-Creation Hub had sought entries from Nigerians on how they could use mobile technology to set up businesses that address issues like the quality of education, health, combating corruption and deepening democracy.

He explained that the entries were reduced to six out of which three winners emerged after a 48-hour camping at the Pan-Africa University, Lagos.

Nokia, he said, alongside the likes of TBWA/Concepts allowed winners to use their platforms to transform the ideas into thriving businesses.

He said that a software developer, Mr. Segun Fodeke, won the first prize with his idea on how mobile devices could be used to track the performance of elected government officials against the promises they made while seeking elective positions.

The second position, Ogunbor said, went to Olusegun V. Sangowawa for her idea on using mobile technology to improve people’s access to health information.

Tosin Agboola’s entry clinched the third position with the idea, which seeks to use mobile phones platforms to alert Nigerians about wanted criminals rather the current use of newspapers, whose reach is quite limited due to poor literacy level and poverty.

He highlighted the fact that Nokia is particularly availing any of the winners who develops a mobile application, an opportunity to upload such on Ovi Store.

“Ovi store is Nokia’s proprietary platform from which millions of Nokia faithful can download applications, games, maps and music,” he said.

Recalling that worldwide, there are at least 3 million downloads on Ovi store everyday. Equally, Nokia’s Head of Marketing for West Africa, Mr. Reuben Onwubiko was quoted as saying that Ovi Store platform provides the winners a life-time opportunity to make money from the revenue from downloads all over the world.

“The onus is therefore on those who have entered for the competition to ensure that they come up with solutions that would be acceptable even beyond the shores of Nigeria,” Onwubiko said.

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