The tablet market continues to witness exciting action with a slew of launches almost everyday. Right from global biggies like Apple Inc. and Samsung Corp. to homegrown players like Micromax Informatics Ltd. and Lava International Ltd., almost everyone seems to be fighting for their share of this nascent but promising market. (See Tablet Vendors Eye India Opportunity)
However, despite this emerging opportunity in sight, Nokia Corp., market leader in the Indian handset segment has still not revealed it's plans to enter the tablet market.
"So what if it's raining tablets. We don't want to become everybody and would rather wait for the right time," says Viral Oza, Director, Marketing, Nokia India. He was talking to reporters at a recent event.
Nokia's fear might be genuine, considering that after it's failure to get success with Symbian and its testing affair with Microsoft Corp., (See ), launching a tablet straightaway might be biting more than what they can chew.
"I believe their best bet is now with Microsoft. I wont be surprised if they comeback with few good ideas, their distribution is already in place and they have been around for some time. However, it is not going to be that easy. Even if they decide to launch a tablet their focus will be emerging markets," says Girish Trivedi, independent telecom business advisor. He was till recently heading the ICT division of Frost & Sullivan.
Why the worry?
It's not the tablet market only where Nokia is missing the action. The company is fast losing its leadership in smartphones and in the low-end handset market too.(See )
Going by a recently published report by market research firm Strategy Analytics Inc., the company has been de-throned by Apple as the global leader among smartphone manufacturers. It further says that even Samsung has surpassed Nokia, in terms of sales during Q2 of 2011. While Apple sold 20.3 million iPhones during Q2 of 2011, Samsung, backed by Android, sold 19 million smartphones in comparision with Nokia's 16.7 million.
Hence, before the company gets into the tablet space it should finalise its smartphone strategy. An industry expert believes that there is no point in rushing in the tablet market without being a strong player in the smartphone category.
The company, in its effort to compete with Android had recently announced the shift from Symbian to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7. While the company has decided to abandon it's MeeGo platform, rumours suggest that they might consider a U-turn if their new marriage with Windows falls back. In any case, it's difficult to predict if the Windows' smartphone platform, which is yet to gain any significant traction would have something to offer that could bring back Nokia's lost glory.
"If Nokia-Windows Platform smartphones do well, the next stop will be tablets," says an industry expert, who didn't wish to be named.
It's clearly evident that once the virtually unchallenged leader in cellular phones, Nokia is fast losing its dominance.
The competition is getting tougher as the heat is not only from global majors like Apple, Samsung, High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) and LG Electronics Inc. but homegrown manufacturers in the low-end market like Micromax, Spice Mobiles Ltd. and Karbonn Mobiles too are shrinking the numbers for Nokia.
Having enough experience of dealing with emerging markets by virtue of its existence in India, the company should also realise that such markets offer great returns to first-movers in majority of the cases. Following the adoption of Windows Phone 7 for smartphones, developing a tablet could be a good idea for Nokia.
Jatinder Singh, Principal Correspondent,Light Reading India
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