My only concern about Lumia future...
Microsoft's CEO did some damage control and clarifying of the companies plans for Windows Phone recently. And when I think about what that means... generally it seems to support everything I've said. There is no reason to believe that Microsoft has killed or plans, any time soon, to kill that Platform. Though it does position them better to do so.
What does concern me is that this change makes Lumia devices (or whatever they continue to be called in the future) much more similar to their other hardware products. And THAT is a problem. Being terrible at advertising is par for the course, and Nokia wasn't really any better at that, so I won't even bother pointing that bit out. Where they have really failed historically has been on availability. Despite there being reduced interest in their products they still seem to be unable to deliver sufficient stock globally and at the same time. Many of their products die off before ever getting out of their launch countries, which incidentally misses the point as different products find success in different regions. Windows Phone is actually pulling decent market shares in some places overseas for instance. And I'll bet some of those were in unexpected places.
So, out of those 20K+ Nokia jobs they've cut now, have they cut any of the supply chain and manufacturing? I'm sure someone has more accurate numbers out there and knows for sure, but I would wager that the answer is yes. And getting worse at supplying hardware is something that Microsoft cannot really afford if they want to ever get big in this market. So, in some respects, the real nail in the coffin could be this indirect consequence rather than anything they've said or done directly.
I live in Canada. I could get to the US, barring customs lineups in a few hours. Yet I cannot buy a Microsoft Band here. A product that has been out for quite some time now. Heck, many people in the US complained about availability. People already complain about availability of Lumia phones due to many models not being sold in Microsoft stores and many carriers not even stocking them. Again, ignoring that even when they have them, many carriers would try and sell you anything else. Hurting their ability to deliver devices further would only hurt the platform even more.
I'll repeat this again, there is absolutely no reason technical reason why Microsoft cannot retain their 95% of the Windows Phone market with fewer models. It is technically possible that they could with a single model. Realistically, this isn't completely true. Hitting multiple price points does matter, but if they deliver a much reduced portfolio, but maintain a reasonable spread of prices, it actually isn't unthinkable that they could retain a decent chunk of their former dominance. The caveat being that the phones actually need to be physically attainable and part of that means that while they may have fewer models, they would need to produce more of each model to stay near or retain their previous share. That is the bit which seems unlikely. In that respect, it feels like they've set themselves up to fail.
What does concern me is that this change makes Lumia devices (or whatever they continue to be called in the future) much more similar to their other hardware products. And THAT is a problem. Being terrible at advertising is par for the course, and Nokia wasn't really any better at that, so I won't even bother pointing that bit out. Where they have really failed historically has been on availability. Despite there being reduced interest in their products they still seem to be unable to deliver sufficient stock globally and at the same time. Many of their products die off before ever getting out of their launch countries, which incidentally misses the point as different products find success in different regions. Windows Phone is actually pulling decent market shares in some places overseas for instance. And I'll bet some of those were in unexpected places.
So, out of those 20K+ Nokia jobs they've cut now, have they cut any of the supply chain and manufacturing? I'm sure someone has more accurate numbers out there and knows for sure, but I would wager that the answer is yes. And getting worse at supplying hardware is something that Microsoft cannot really afford if they want to ever get big in this market. So, in some respects, the real nail in the coffin could be this indirect consequence rather than anything they've said or done directly.
I live in Canada. I could get to the US, barring customs lineups in a few hours. Yet I cannot buy a Microsoft Band here. A product that has been out for quite some time now. Heck, many people in the US complained about availability. People already complain about availability of Lumia phones due to many models not being sold in Microsoft stores and many carriers not even stocking them. Again, ignoring that even when they have them, many carriers would try and sell you anything else. Hurting their ability to deliver devices further would only hurt the platform even more.
I'll repeat this again, there is absolutely no reason technical reason why Microsoft cannot retain their 95% of the Windows Phone market with fewer models. It is technically possible that they could with a single model. Realistically, this isn't completely true. Hitting multiple price points does matter, but if they deliver a much reduced portfolio, but maintain a reasonable spread of prices, it actually isn't unthinkable that they could retain a decent chunk of their former dominance. The caveat being that the phones actually need to be physically attainable and part of that means that while they may have fewer models, they would need to produce more of each model to stay near or retain their previous share. That is the bit which seems unlikely. In that respect, it feels like they've set themselves up to fail.
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