Nokia CEO talks about Nokia’s future in US market and with 4G
Granted, The Boston Globe basically tossed up a bunch of softballs but it still gives us a warm and fuzzy feeling any time Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, or OPK as he is affectionately nicknamed, simply utters the words “US market”. It lets us know that somewhere, somehow, Nokia does in fact still remember that Americans use cell phones. Yes, Nokia’s track record with supporting the US 3G spectra (AT&T’s at least) in high-end phones is most definitely improving. We still aren’t seeing Nokia actively push S60 devices to market here however, and Nokia’s US market share sits in the mid-single digits as a result. S60 fans here in the US are hoping that the recent release of the Nokia 6650 via AT&T is the start of a trend but we’re skeptical at best. Enthusiasts hoped the same thing when the E62 was released, and then the N75. OPK was pretty direct while speaking to the Globe however:
We are investing more in the US market. We are expanding our research and development activity in San Diego. We’ve got lots of people there designing phones now that are specific to the US needs and the US market.
Kallasvuo went on to say that Nokia’s approach will cover all market segments here in the US, not just smartphones, and that LTE will be the technology of choice for Nokia when it comes to 4G. Nokia will still dabble in WiMax as we’ve seen with the N810, but LTE is the way to go for the Finnish giant. Oh well, there’s plenty more fish in the sea, Sprint. Hit the read link for the full yet brief interview with OPK.
still no WCDMA IV support on S60
there’s no reason to buy nokia phone for T-Mobile and Stelera
the tmobile band just came out a few months ago. Now i am not a phone genius, but something tells me the phones that nokia is releasing has been in development for longer than that. I am sure it wouldn’t be cost effective to go buy millions of different chipsets because tmobile finally got into the high speed internet game.
Does Stelera offer voice services? I thought they were just mobile broadband..
Stelera is also considered as carrier, and they use same WCDMA IV for HSPA service, even though they offer data only
the AWS spectrum was allocated over 2 years ago, under the engineering and equipment supplying eyes of Nokia-Siemens. Nokia can easily create devices with whatever bands they wish. They ignored the larger need of the AWS market for greater penetration of the old spectrum. Bad idea. They should’ve supported both and trumped up the advantages of unlocked devices over branded.
Nokia does have a unique opportunity to talk about unlocked devices in the US; both RIM and Apple devices are so tied to their carriers. But given that GSM in the US means AT&T, it seems clear from their comments they would rather continue releasing one AT&T handset a year than declare war.
And for the life of me, I can’t understand why Nokia would blow $10 billion on takeovers and not find a company that can do visual voicemail.
But I love their snow tires.