It is reported that Nokia will back to the phone market as early as next year. Finland Nokia is expected to take back the brand of Nokia from Microsoft in 2016. Nokia Technologies is now making a plan for the returning.
One year earlier， after selling its phone department to Microsoft， Nokia has only three businesses： map， network equipment and Nokia technology. This time， Nokia may use Nokia technology to back to phone market. Currently， smart phone market is under a fierce competition. If Nokia decides to back to this market， it may survive， but really hard to win.
Grim Market Situation
Firstly， it is hard to make a breakthrough in hardware.
Nowadays， more products are marketed at the smart phone market； cell phone manufactures are trying their best to make new products. The pace of innovation of smart phone hardware is gradually slowed down. Apart from new products made by traditional well-known manufactures， companies outside the industry also produce innovative mobile phones.
In terms of battery， flash imitation technology is popular now； many mobile phones at the market have this technology.
Taking a look at Android tablet N1 released by Nokia last November， it looks like iPad mini， but has less innovation on the hardware equipment.
Unless Nokia can find a new opportunity in the emerging market， it is hard to make its way into the smart phone market just by hardware technology.
Secondly， low-end mobile phone has no advantage in price anymore.
When mention about Nokia， the first impression is its durableness and inexpensiveness. For the past several years， high-end mobile phone market has not been saturated； low-end mobile phone market can still make profit. But in these days， smart phone is cheaper and cheaper， the industry gradually shift its focus to phones that cost thousand or hundred yuan， the competition in low-end mobile phone market is fierce， and it seems to have no opportunity to make a big profit.
In recent years， mobile phone made by China also become popular， it mainly occupies the low-end market. As a hot topic these days， “xiaomi” mobile phone has made a constant innovation on configuration and user experiences. It satisfies the mass demand mainly by high configuration， low price. Of course， it has a great effect. Besides attracting eyes， left a deep impression of its brand in people’s mind， it also pro-mote the development of smart phone market. The price of “xiaomi” is already very low. Therefore， it’s hard for Nokia to make its price lower.
In addition， market response about Nokia’s N1 tablet shows that it has no advantage in price anymore. The N1 tablet has been already very low in price， but its sales result is not very good. People who would like to buy it are mainly because of the brand ‘Nokia’， not because of the product itself.
Therefore， with the change of the market situation， low-end mobile phone has no profit space in the market； Nokia has no advantage in price anymore.
Thirdly， it is hard to win back only by brand influence.
In many people’s eyes， cavity and stagnancy is the only impression of today’s Nokia. Truly， in consumers’ mind， Nokia is nothing expect for the brand. The brand ‘Nokia’ has a great influence among mobile phone and mobile equipment. Nokia’s fans said they expect and support its returning. But a few of them actually would buy Nokia’s smart phone.
The user group of Nokia is getting older， and has not much motivation for buying a smart phone. Younger people， who were born after 1990， prefer to buy more fashionable brand such as Apple， Xiaomi or Huawei. Nokia can be survived by its old fans and the influence of its brand， but it is really hard to win back.
Will N1 production mode be accepted by the market？
Being limited by Microsoft， Nokia currently can not carry out mobile phone business. But this doesn’t mean it will give up all works related to mobile phone. It may do mobile phone business through third party. It is reported that Nokia will use last year’s N1 tablet production mode， ie.， designing product itself， authorize technology to other manufactures， the latter use brand‘Nokia’ to produce， market and distrib-ute mobile phone.
In terms of technology， Nokia technology department truly has capability. It has authorized over 10 thousand patent. It is now developing new product and will authorize it to other company. But if select a third party to produce， consumers will concern about the safety of product， and Nokia itself will lose its brand influence. This mode may not be accepted by consumers.
Nokia will not only make innovations in mobile phone.
These days， competition in mobile phone market is fierce. As an old brand， Nokia is quite clear about the situation. It is seeking for a new transition. If it back to smart phone market， it may not only focus on mobile phone.
Firstly， its technology department’s brand authorization mode has become mature. Taking a look at the authorization of more than 10 thousand patent， Nokia gets more profit from brand authorization.
Secondly， the prospect of hardware market is not bright. Nokia may turn to software service market， expand and market its map service.
Now， Nokia has developed many large-scale science and technology project， such as a project related to virtual reality technology， which will bring Nokia into internet market.
Moreover， Nokia took over Alcatel lately. It added an operator business after together with Huawei and Ericsson becoming one of the three big companies in communications industry. In the future， the three R & D major bodies―Alcatel-lucent bell labs， Nokia Future Works and Nokia Technology Company will operate as an independent body.
Nowadays， marketing of internet mobile phone will achieve no bigger effect. With more new products on the market， consumers have already felt tired. It is very hard for Nokia to get into the market without an innovative technology. But besides mobile phone， it may have a big transition in other fields in the future.