Will Nokia work for the consumer?

Roger Ordman considers some ramifications of the Nokia-Microsoft partnership

There has been a lot of talk about smartphones heralding the end of the voice-only phone era, and tablets being post-PC devices. I believe that social change is an aspect that must be considered here.

The consumer is at the centre of the world – not corporations. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks have put the individual consumer in the centre of product recommendations and promotions, marketing, and distribution.

This is causing a shift in focus for the mobile device manufacturers and service providers, away from the enterprise as the target customer.

There is a counterpart in the success of Apple and Nokia. Apple understands the change in focus and realises that the way to dominate a new era of connected devices is to build on the success of its consumer devices, the iPod and the iPhone – rather than trying to downsize Macs into portable devices.

Apple markets to the consumer, even when it is selling via channels such as mobile network operators (MNO), with a consistent set of features, with no channel-specific variations.

This contrasts with Nokia's approach. Nokia's focus is on building devices suited to MNO needs.

Apple's consumer-centric focus is a significant contributor to the company's market capitalisation of $316.4 billion, more than 12 times Nokia's $24.9 billion.

Similarly, Microsoft mainly focuses its products on the enterprise, in my opinion, and has ridden its success there to push its products into the home. All the new networking and collaboration features in Windows 7 and MS Office 2010 are designed to meet the needs of the enterprise. And they far exceed the needs of consumers.

Google, on the other hand, introduced simplified apps for the consumer – search, Gmail, Calendar and Docs – that are less comprehensive than the MS Office suite.

Windows Phone integrates seamlessly and securely with its products: Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Office. Google's Android integrates with Gmail, Picasa and Calendar.

The biggest question in the Microsoft/Nokia collaboration is whether they will continue to be champions of the channel or will they try to become more consumer-focused companies? And with their corporate heritage, is this even an option?

At least a billion devices are shipped annually that are not running iPhone or Android, so the market potential is great, and both operators and manufacturers are going to maintain or win a chunk of it.

Nokia's heritage in manufacturing great devices should ensure it remains a major player in the mobile market for years to come. I, for one, am looking forward to moving back to a good, solid Nokia handset that does everything I need for work – and leaves a little room for play.

Roger Ordman is director of product marketing at Red Bend Software