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10 Mar 2010
Nokia is failing to keep up with rival smartphone manufacturers in the type of chips used in its handsets, and could be harming its market share as a result, according to analysts.
Ovum's Smartphone Capability Tracker for 2009 claimed that Nokia is "lagging behind the performance curve".
"Nokia's current smartphones, including the flagship N97 and N97 mini, run on ARM11 below 500MHz with an anaemic 128MB of RAM, a point that most other platforms have abandoned," said Ovum analyst Tim Renowden.
Most other manufacturers are migrating to ARM Cortex A8 and Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipsets, the analyst explained.
"Both of these platforms include hardware acceleration of graphics and video tasks, enabling richer multimedia experiences such as high-definition video, 3D games and richer graphical user interfaces," he said.
The N900 is the only Nokia handset to use a next-generation chipset, which Renowden described as "surprising" and potentially harmful to the firm's market share.
"A slower processor or poor touch-screen resolution affects users' experiences of devices, and if people go into stores and see products which don't look that impressive they will favour other manufacturers instead," he said.
Renowden added that the launch of Symbian^3 around the middle of the year could see Nokia announce several new products, but that until then the firm is caught between two stools.
"If Nokia announces new products in the coming months it could hurt sales of devices already on the market. However, due to the lack of announcements, people are wondering what the company has in the pipeline," he said.
The Ovum research also noted the growing importance of application stores for handset manufactures and operators.
"Sixty-five per cent of handsets launched in the past 12 months had an app store at launch. Application stores are a must-have feature, and strong growth in preinstalled application stores reflects this," he said.
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Do you agree?
Some what of a truth...
nokia is good but behind all markets. iman it is slow. it is not on schedule. i mean that is it putting all power on cheaper phones.not making on top phones like the N9 that is comeing 2011
Posted by: dick 04 Dec 2010
I'm with Ross
Agree 100% with Ross, except he neglected to mention the constant delays and failed promises by Nokia - that is what (ironically) saved me from the N97 nightmare. By the time Nokia got around to actually releasing anything, it was outdated and there were better devices out there. I'm currently hanging out for the HTC Desire. At least they are not asking for over $1000 for it at launch. And Symbian is just embarrassing. It looked great, in 2002. And I laugh at the counter-argument that forums are just for complaints, that just a poor excuse. I would really like some solid market research to show why Nokia is NOT struggling to maintain market share.
Posted by: Cosmic Charade 26 Mar 2010
They've taken their eye off the ball...
This is absolutely the case. The n97 comes with an ARM11 and has no possibility with catching up with the iPhone, and speed is not the only worry. Nokia failed to fully develop a good GUI for Symbian, failed to streamline its coding to allow the phone to work more efficiently, failed to develop a full production plan to ensure that QC and review was executed at ALL stages and at ALL levels, and now the rivals have well an truly overtaken. The n900 really is no better EXCEPT that it has a good OS (which again hasn't been developed effectively - I mean two updates in one week???), and a Cortex A8 which is currently the norm now. It's very nearest competitor is the Motorola Milestone/Droid but the set up (despite how ugly the thing looks) works much better and so much more fluidly. Nokia needs to pull their fingers out of their backsides and start to work on regaining the smartphone ground.
Posted by: Ross 17 Mar 2010
Sadly its true
I bought a n97 five months ago from a third party as my network couldnt offer me one and have since realised they wouldnt offer it because there are so many bad issues with it. Its a decision to buy that ive regreted nearly every day since. Activation codes, software probs, never strong signal, no replys to helpdesk emails, poor apps up to other phones, poor dialling interface, help line service very weak with premium rate numbers. It all ammounts to a poor company in my perception...learn from my mistake and spend your hard earned cash elsewhere
Posted by: P Hurkett 16 Mar 2010
N900 outdated???
N900 outdated, slow? LOL. This statement alone is a big red flag indicating you mostly don't know what you're talking about. Regarding forums, that's mainly what they are for: complaints and questions. Duh. I've been visiting forums long enough to realize that. Name me a product and I can show you a forum full of complaints about it. Chances are, satisfied users don't post in forums saying they don't have problems. Sure, Nokia made mistakes but saying that their products are basically trash just shows that you're a hater without much credibility.
Posted by: Astronaught 12 Mar 2010
Sympathy
And by the way, a company with 40% of the worldwide SMARTphone market (up 4% last quarter) does not need your or anybody else's sympathy.
Posted by: Astronaught 12 Mar 2010
Nokia have lost the plot
Nokia have totally lost me. I am a current owner of an N95 which has served me well, although well over a year ago I sat on forums waiting patiently for the N97. Then it was delayed. Then the price was announced (disappointment). Then the endless complaints and disappointment rolled in. Nokia just brushed them off. Then I waited for the N900. Delays, delays and finally I just gave up and discovered Android after realising Maemo or anything Nokia touches is over complex slow, clunky, outdated, over priced and poorly supported anyway. Nokias own support forums are swamped with complaints about service. I am amazed a company could grow so lazy and slow that they let this happen to them. I have no sympathy what-so-ever.
Posted by: Cosmic Charade 11 Mar 2010