Nokia RIM all losers, Samsung wins #1, Apple at most #2

[matamafia]

http://www.thestreet.com/story/1115...-but-not-as-bad-as-nokias.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN

RIM's Got Problems but Not as Bad as Nokia's
By Anton Wahlman, Contributor 06/15/11 - 06:05 AM EDT

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Stock quotes in this article:RIMM, NOK
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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The stock sentiment and recent performance for Research In Motion (RIMM_)is terrible, with the stock retreating back to where it was in early 2009, and before then, in late 2006. At least the stock is well ahead of its $2 level in 2003.
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Research in Motion Ltd| RIMM
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Microsoft Corporation| MSFT

RIM shares are down primarily because investors believe that the company's products are losing market share, and that the situation is beginning to look like what happened to Nokia(NOK_) starting four to eight years ago. As a result, the analyst consensus is now materially below the per-share earnings guidance of $7.50, and almost every analyst has downgraded the stock and his price target dramatically.

There's no doubt that RIM is having problems. RIM is several quarters late in introducing its new handsets based on its 7.0 operating system. For every day that passes until the new BlackBerry models become available, RIM is losing sales, all other things equal across all geographies.

Adding insult to injury, RIM's PlayBook tablet has probably not sold well enough to have a meaningfully positive impact on the May quarter's results. The PlayBook was released in April, well before the interesting new software capabilities are made available in the August-September time frame.

Despite these drawbacks, however, the situation at RIM is not as bad as it is at Nokia. Why?

Let's first recap the situation at Nokia.

I'm unaware of a single geography and market segment where Nokia is gaining share or sales. Nokia has close to zero market share in the U.S., and it is losing to every single kind of competitor in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas.

In contrast, RIM is losing market share in only a small number of countries, primarily the U.S. In the vast majority of 175 or so countries, RIM is eating Nokia's lunch. If RIM fails to deliver quickly on its new products, this situation won't continue forever. But for now this remains directionally true in RIM's favor.

The BlackBerry is relatively more attractive in many countries outside the U.S. for a few reasons, including the data efficiency, lower service plan cost, and higher optimization for text messages. Again, these advantages will whittle over time, but they don't disappear in a couple of quarters or even a year or two.

http://www.itproportal.com/2011/06/15/nokia-closing-online-uk-shop/

Nokia Is Closing Its Online UK Shop
Written by
Michael Ide
15 June, 2011
nokia online shopping spain netherlands e-commerce france

Finish mobile manufacturer Nokia is moving ahead with its plan to close down its online store in the UK because of the lukewarm response that it has received.

It seems that most customers prefer to contact telecom operators directly to set up their contracts while others just find it more convenient to enter their neighborhood retail stores for competitively priced smart phones. With network operators offering a host of free goodies, the Nokia online store has lost its relevance as an intermediary.

The same fate seems to be reserved for other Nokia online stores in many European countries including Spain, France and the Netherlands. It seems that the mobile giant has made up its mind that such online stores are a poor business proposition and apparently it is trying to streamline its distribution channels by closing them down.

“We are planning to close the current UK online store to simplify our channel structure and focus our resources on our key trade customers," said a Nokia UK representative, TechRadar reports.

While no specific date regarding the closure of online store available, trade analysts seem to believe that Nokia's UK online store will close up shop by the end of this month.

 

[matamafia]

Reason is: ANDRIOD wins! Samsung is making Andriod Phones for Google.

http://blogs.forbes.com/mobiledia/2011/06/14/nokia-to-lose-smartphone-crown-to-samsung-apple/

Nokia to Lose Smartphone Crown to Samsung, Apple
Jun. 14 2011 - 6:41 pm | 753 views | 0 recommendations | 1 comment

Nokia, which has led global smartphone shipments since 1996, may soon be eclipsed by Samsung and Apple, according to analysts, as the phone maker struggles to reverse its dire fortunes.

Samsung is expected to overtake Nokia this quarter, with Apple following next quarter, pushing the former leader to third place, according to Nomura. The research firm also predicts HTC to come close to matching Nokia by the end of the year.

A Gartner analyst acknowledged that Samsung “might” overtake Nokia if the Finnish company’s third quarter handset efforts aren’t well received and Samsung’s Galaxy S 2 ramps up, according to Reuters.

Others were less certain. “There is certainly a very close three-way battle going on for top spot in global smartphone volumes between Nokia, Apple and Samsung during the second quarter,” said Neil Mawston, analyst at Strategy Analytics, to Reuters.

News that Nokia is still at the top of the smartphone market may come as a surprise to U.S. consumers, who have seen the company’s high-end handsets virtually disappear.

Nokia’s move to abandon Symbian for Microsoft’s Windows Phone accelerated the plummet as buyers shy away from an orphaned platform. In the U.K. market, Nokia’s smartphone share plunged to around 11 percent in May, down from 31 percent a year earlier, according to research firm Kantar Worldpanel.

If Nokia does give up the top smartphone spot, the question will become whether its Hail Mary play with Windows Phone will fuel a comeback or seal its fate. Nokia’s future as well as Microsoft’s mobile ambitions will hang in the balance: the software company has pinned its hopes for its new platform, which has failed to gain traction so far, on the staggering phone maker.

Gartner predicts Windows Phone will grow to be the number two mobile platform globally by 2015, fueled in part by the Nokia partnership. Few dispute Nokia’s ability to make top-notch hardware: it’s the software part of the equation that’s proved tricky.

Even Nomura, which has made the most aggressive prediction of Nokia’s fall, acknowledges that the company could quickly come back but doesn’t think it’s likely.

“Market shares in mobile phones have swung greatly in prior years and so a comeback from Nokia is feasible, in our view,” Nomura said in its report. “However, we see no evidence of a product led turnaround and continue to see better opportunities among Asian vendors in particular.”