Nokia is ditching business market and focusing on consumers
Nokia announced yesterday that it is reallocating its resources and selling assets focused on the business and enterprise market. They are planning on stopping the research and development of business solutions and enterprise mail. Surprising, since Mail for Exchange 2.7 had just been released not long ago – which would lead some to believe that Nokia’s business support would continue going. Not so. Instead, they are focusing on the consumer and devices and software geared toward non-business types. Nokia is planning on selling off its security appliances business to a financial investor with the EVP of Services & Software saying:
“If this transaction is concluded, it would be an extremely positive development for the security appliance business, which will be able to realize its full potential under new ownership. The investor is committed to continuing the development and growth of the business, to serving its current network of customers, and to retaining and motivating its employees.”
We’ll see if this new investor can actually help that side of Nokia’s soon-to-be-former department “realize its full potential” and motivate its employees. This does seem like a logical step for Nokia since their business devices, like the E71 and E90, haven’t done so well against Blackberry, Motorola, and HTC in terms of sales, popularity, and enterprise support. Not to mention them stupidly dropping BlackBerry Connect. With Nokia tightening its focus on the consumer market, we can only hope that it leads to some awesome multimedia devices and compete with the iPhone, G1, and future devices that will be featuring Android.
UPDATE: To clarify, Nokia is not ceasing to manufacture business devices. They are concentrating on consumer software.
So I guess there aren’t going to be any more Eseries devices?
Nokia are ceasing development of Intellisync Mobile Suite, not Mail for Exchange (ActiveSync for Symbian).
I would expect them to continue to deliver business centric devices, just not the enterprise software to deliver email and line of business apps to those handsets.
Their new strategy seems to be “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” and partnering with Microsoft more closely.
What would be nice is a combination of Nseries function with Eseries build quality…if this just means consolidation of the two divisions, then we’re better off. Just imagine Nokia phones that are built with sturdy materials and have the best functionalities of both E and N series lines.
Completely incorrect reporting. They are only ditching their end to end solution (Intellisync on the Server side). They will rely on MS Exchange to do the push from the server and only focus on the client side.
They will continue to sell and introduce new E series products
Shame on you BGR. You should print a retraction.
Is it really that hard to properly read a press release? Seriously? This has got to be the most flawed article I’ve read on BGR, ever.
How does selling off the security appliance business (hardware firewalls etc) relate to completely leaving the business market? How does dropping their own IntelliSync-based business suite *in favor* of Exchange etc mean that they’ll stop developing MfE?
Directly from the press release: “As recently demonstrated by the launch of Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync on over 40 Nokia S60 phones, Microsoft and Nokia are committed to working together to deliver great experiences for our customers”, said Terry Myerson, Corporate Vice President, Exchange Group at Microsoft. “At Microsoft, we look forward to ongoing collaboration with Nokia to address the tremendous opportunities for both our companies in unified communications.”
Yeah, sure sounds like they’ll stop offering MfE this right now.
I dont think it was necessary for a complete scrap of the business sector but then again I’m not the CEO nor am I on the board so to each its own. Nokia will be fine though
Nice, BGR. Nice.
I usually defend BGR on but article is very misleading. It makes it sounds as if Nokia is no longer going to produce devices viable for use in the corporate market and focus on feature phones only. It seems to suggest that we should all embrace MS and RIM devices. RIM maybe but NEVER will I use a MS mobile device again.
They are not going to stop manufacturing “business” devices. We just said that their business line hasn’t done so well compared to other handsets, and that they are restructuring some of their enterprise software strategy…
This article is completely misleading, and BGR is missing the point. Nokia will sell it’s HARDWARE unit, because they want to be a virtual internet company. They’ve shown no reason to discontinue or cut back on building E-Series devices. Nokia’s reconfirmed commitment to Mail for Exchange seems solid, with version 2.7 now supporting all S60 devices.
BGR is typically a good source for breaking stories, but their twist on this release is… confusing. BGR, people trust you. Please be more careful with your posts.
This is tech news, not political slander.. who cares
BGR it may be that what you said is correct, but the inference to others would suggest that Nokia would stop producing business mobile devices. That inference caused me to go to the Nokia PR website, which infers a completely diffent thing.
The following statement
“Surprising, since Mail for Exchange 2.7 had just been released not long ago – which would lead some to believe that Nokia’s business support would continue going”
was the catalyst for me to check out the Nokia PR, which seems to intimate that more work would be going into Mail for Exchange.
BGR, I rely on your usually good info. I don’t want to go elsewhere to verify if you are correct.
The Boy Genius Said:
They are not going to stop manufacturing “business” devices. We just said that their business line hasn’t done so well compared to other handsets, and that they are restructuring some of their enterprise software strategy…
Sorry BGR but your post said:
“They are planning on stopping the research and development of business solutions and enterprise mail. Surprising, since Mail for Exchange 2.7 had just been released not long ago – which would lead some to believe that Nokia’s business support would continue going. Not so. Instead, they are focusing on the consumer and devices and software geared toward non-business types.”
You state specifically that one might believe that Nokia’s business support would continue but then in a single sentence say “NOT SO”. How does one NOT take that as business consumers should look elsewhere for enterprise solutions? Especially coupled with the statement in the last sentence that says they will focus on consumer DEVICES and software geared toward NON-BUSINESS types?
It’s very poor writing when someone has to say what they “meant” to say in a separate posting instead of the actual article itself.
Steve G Said:
This is tech news, not political slander.. who cares
Because it’s a TECH SITE, genius… WE care and that’s why we are hear.
I agree it wasn’t as clear as it should have been. That said, if Nokia was stopping production on all business products and services (read: devices), I promise you, it would have been bigger news and you would have heard it loud and clear.
Here is a link to the actual article. It sheds better light on what they are actually doing than this blog posting:
http://www.nokia.com/A4136001?newsid=1255162
Good thing there are comments and intelligent people who use them to point out items that have been misread.
I was at first disappointed to hear no more E-Series phones after the sweet E71 but reading the actual press release made me realize that Nokia is selling a losing section of its business. It’s spending money developing something that other 3rd parties which they have good relationships with are already doing and perhaps even better. The behind-the-firewall solution sounds like things a Blackberry does. Perhaps Nokia has decided not to do it natively by selling the division off.
The press release does not mention the halt of business phones. It’s focus on consumer email is align to comepete against Apple. If they could bridge the gap between consumers and business, it’d be welcomed for those small business owners who have their one-phone for everything or the folks who like to work hard and play hard. I’d love to have a QWERTY keyboard on an N-Series featured phone. There are consumers like QWERTY keyboards too but not a single N-series phone available has one.
I also do wish Nokia would start off with a good built-in application on the phone with HTML support.
The Boy Genius Said:
I agree it wasn’t as clear as it should have been. That said, if Nokia was stopping production on all business products and services (read: devices), I promise you, it would have been bigger news and you would have heard it loud and clear.
Thanks for the clarification BG.
Still a fan of the site.
I guess I should chime in and rectify this since I did write such a “vague” article. When I said “Not so,” I was referring strictly to Nokia’s reconsideration of their enterprise solutions – not once did I ever mention they were ditching hardware or devices. Sure, in the following sentence I said they would be focusing on consumer devices and software and not for business types, but how does one deduce the exact opposite from that? If I typically made business and consumer devices, and I said I wanted to focus more on the consumer end, that DOESN’T allude to me ending business devices. Had that been a logic question on an LSAT test, it would have been instant fail.
@Marc BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA learn to write an article
I just didn’t think I’d have to spell everything out.
Personally Id like to know who gives a crap anyway.. Nokia has made disposable cheap devices for over a decade.. And the only thing that they are doing well is the N-Series…which are cool.
Regardless, this isnt what the article is about, but it seems everyone wants to be a critic and talk about loyalty and “fan” to BGR site if someone reports something they dont agree with completely. PAH-LEEZE!!! GET OVER IT! Its reporting something period!
@Mel
“Good thing there are comments and intelligent people who use them to point out items that have been misread…. The press release does not mention the halt of business phones.”
Thank you.
Marc: Had you included the header of the actual press release from Nokia which read
“Continued commitment to deliver leading mobile devices and solutions to businesses and business users”
then you might have not had the problem of having to spell out what you “meant” to all us dumb readers. That quote alone would have made for less negative feedback. But then, it might have not had the “shock and awe” that you were likely going for with your article. This appears to have been a bit of sensationalism on your part to attract the attention of readers.
Marc Flores Said:
@Mel
“Good thing there are comments and intelligent people who use them to point out items that have been misread…. The press release does not mention the halt of business phones.”
Thank you.
Marc, I may be misreading Mel’s post but I don’t think that compliment was directed at you.