Nokia struggles to sell its higher-end S60-powered smartphones in the U.S. That’s a fact. Their S40 phones do rather well, and are quite easy for the manufacturer to get featured on AT&T or T-Mobile’s product lineup. They also sell quite well, shown recently by the 6555 on AT&T and the 6133 on T-Mobile. However, the last S60 officially offered by T-mobile was the N90, and AT&T’s was the N75, though it was completely butchered.
The problem, as I’ve mentioned before, is that AT&T doesn’t really ‘get’ S60. Either that, or they completely understand it, but are so stinkin greedy that they refuse to offer something so open. However, since they offer Windows Mobile handsets as well, we’re going to go with the former, that they don’t understand S60 and its benefits to both the consumer and the carrier.
I’ve been thinking long and hard about this, and the announcements of the Samsung G810 and LG KT610 finally helped me to figure out how exactly I think S60 could really break into the U.S. market, or at least give it a killer shot…
A few things to note: Nokia owns S60, but operates it essentially as a separate company, more or less. S60 is also (obviously) licensed out to a few other manufacturers, most notably Samsung and LG. Nokia’s presence sucks in the U.S., that’s plain to see. However, Samsung and LG are both doing remarkably well, particularly with the GSM carriers, AT&T and T-Mobile. AT&T and Nokia have a notoriously terrible relationship. However, both Samsung and LG provided the launch handsets for AT&T’s newest services, including Push-To-Talk, 3G, and in the near future, MobileTV based on MediaFLO. At any given moment there are roughly 5-6 different Samsung or LG models in AT&T’s lineup, and that includes smartphones.
Nokia has managed to get a few S60 handsets onto AT&T’s lineup, typically one every other year. It started with the 6620 (as far back as I remember) and then came the 6682, E62, and now the N75. None have done very well, mostly due to the obvious fact that AT&T has no idea how to market S60, and they’re afraid of its openness, in my opinion. Nokia has been the lone wolf fighting for S60 in the U.S., and I think it’s high time they recruited some help, particularly if they want to get anywhere with AT&T and soon T-Mobile.
If you’ve not put the first paragraph with the second, here’s the general idea: Nokia and S60 need to get together with Samsung and LG and do whatever it takes to convince the two that it would be a good idea to get some S60 handsets on the U.S. carriers. I think if Nokia was able to walk into AT&T’s boardroom flanked by Samsung and LG, all sporting S60 handsets, AT&T might be able to give it a bit more attention and possibly learn how to market the things.
The problem is that every S60 handset manufactured by LG or Samsung, up to this point, have lacked the appropriate GSM frequencies for the U.S., showing that neither vendor is interested. Nokia/S60 is going to have to entice these guys to put up some S60 love for the U.S. Exactly how to do that is the issue. Not to worry, I have two suggestions:
1. The first is obviously to give them a licensing discount on S60. This will cost Nokia/S60 at first, but has some potential to make it back once the trio has made headway in the carrier game with S60. Obviously not the most attractive option, but an option nonetheless. However, Samsung is making Windows Mobile handsets for a reason – they’re obviously being given some sort of incentive by Microsoft to keep doing so. Nokia/S60 needs to figure out what that is, and top it.
2. The second method that I have come up with is to work out some sort of collaboration on something big. Get together and help each other out. Nokia’s dominating every other market on the planet. Surely there’s something that they can share with Samsung and LG, and vice versa, so that S60 can be a bigger event in the U.S. market.
What do you think? Do you think that if Nokia/S60 could use existing relationships to edge into the U.S. market, they’d have a solid chance of making an impact? Personally, I think that the iPhone’s success is largely due to the lack of multimedia features on the other smartphones running Windows Mobile and the Blackberry OS. Palm is about as ‘multimedia’ as a Nokia 1110, so I’m not counting it. I think that with handsets such as the N78 and 6210 Navigator that are lower priced but with plenty of features, Americans would definitely be willing to check out the Symbian S60 OS.
Please note that I still do and will always firmly believe that any and all carrier branding is a detriment to the phone, in every case. However, I also know that sometimes you have to move backwards slightly in order to move forward. Pushing more handsets out in the U.S. with AT&T or T-Mobile branding might suck initially, but the end goal is simply to increase S60′s marketshare in the U.S., regardless of how it’s accomplished.
