This is what I want to see, and there’s only two companies that could conceivably give it to me. I live in the United States. Our telecom industry is incredibly jacked up, with consumers dependent on this notion of subsidized handsets and carrier contracts. This is a major factor in Nokia having a difficult time gaining back the market share in this country.
Nokia’s (and any manufacturer’s, for that matter) distribution points in this country for GSM phones is currently Cingular and T-mobile, with a few small regional players and whatever they can sell through their own website. This needs to change, and badly.
Why, you ask? Well, let’s look back at 2006. Nokia tried to get a total of 6 phones through Cingular this year. The 9300, E62, 6282, N80, 6126, and now the N75. Of those, only two were released, the 9300 (though almost a full year after it’s market had passed) and the E62 (which is doing moderately well). The 6282 and N80 were canned pretty quick, the 6126 and N75 at least made it to testing before getting the axe (Disclaimer: the N75 has not *officially* been 86′d, but it’s close).
However, ALSO of those, the N80 and 6126 (as the 6131/6133) have been successfully launched in other parts of the world. Point being, I don’t think Nokia is the problem. I think their distribution methods are. Namely, Cingular.
SOMEONE in this country needs to bitch-slap the carriers and start
selling phones at retail. From my POV, only two companies are poised to
do this, with Nokia being the better-situated of the two.
SE is the runner up, with the "Sony Style" stores all over the place,
and great relationships with major retailers like Best Buy.
However, Nokia is BETTER poised:
1. They have 2 Flagship stores which dominate the press when they open
and still dominate when they celebrate a one-year anniversary. The
stores are simply magnificent, and you can buy anything in there. From interactive walls to a separate space for Vertu sales, they’re nothing short of an experience to even shop there.
2. They have 24 "Nokia Experience Centers." If you’re
not familiar, these are basically interactive billboards for Nokia
products. It’s like a store that doesn’t sell anything. They have a number of handsets on display that you can pick up and play with. However, they have, at least the two in Dallas, been poorly
inventoried, with a lot of older and outdated models. But, nonetheless, they already have displays and a
computer on hand. All that needs to be added is a cash drawer and some
storage cabinets and they’re all instant stores.
3. Nokia has something of a partnership with CompUSA to sell phones and
other devices (GPS receivers and the 770). There are 229 CompUSA stores in the United States. Bolstering this relationship would not
take much at all. They also have NUMEROUS importers who sell unlocked Nokia handsets without a contract. Some examples include Buy.com, Plemix.com, and a host of other retailers, not to mention Ebay.
4. Motorola and Apple are already utilizing vending machines to dispense their pure, beautiful devices to the spending public. In Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, a single iPod vending machine racked up $55k in sales in just ONE MONTH. Why doesn’t Nokia toss up some vending machines, as well, as proposed by Stefan?
Thus Nokia has four available but under-utilized methods of bringing
their devices to the masses. It wouldn’t cost much in capital, most of
their devices are FCC approved anyways. The only thing holding them
back is this thin veil of hope that Cingular is going to carry one of
their newer phones and the mental block that manufacturers have in this country that they have to woo the Carrier. They’re quickly forgetting that the Carrier is NOT the end-user.
Sometime in the future, the Carriers are going to have to give up on
branding. It happened with the landlines, it’ll happen with cellphones.
Not too long ago, when you got your landline hooked up, Ol’ Ma Bell
also brought you your phone. When it broke, you called Southwestern
Bell. Nowadays, you call any number of companies to get the hook up,
then stroll over to Wal-Mart and pick out a phone.
The cellular industry is selling the EXACT SAME PRODUCT as the landlines. Why should it
remain any different? One company is going to have to start that, and I
personally think that Nokia is the best poised to do so. The first
one to do it will struggle the most, but will also stand out the most in the consumer mindset.
