BARCELONA – Nokia, Motorola and BlackBerry, which have been pioneers in the global handset market, are now the laggards in the sector and seek to regain lost glory
While struggling to return to the scene, now dominated. by Samsung and Apple, analysts give little hope to them.
“All these historical devices manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola and BlackBerry completely missed the opportunity,” said Bengt Nordstrom, chief of the Swedish consultancy Northstream .
“They lost the phase of the touch screen”
Nokia, BlackBerry Canadian and U.S. Motorola Finnish,. they all lost a lot of money in 2013
division of Nokia phones in the process of acquisition by Microsoft, reported losses of 780 million euros ($ 1.07 billion) last year.
Motorola recorded a loss of U.S. $ 1.03 billion in the same period.
This month, the owner of Motorola, Google, disposed of the business, selling it to the Chinese manufacturer Lenovo smartphones for $ 2.91 million.
The BlackBerry purchased by Canadian Fairfax Financial Holdings, accumulated loss of $ 5.4 billion in just nine months until November 30.
“Definitely, we are here to compete and to recover some of the lost ground before the start of the year, “said the newly appointed chief executive of BlackBerry, John Chen, told reporters at Mobile World Congress, held 24-27 February in Barcelona, ??Spain.
Z2 BlackBerry
introduced two BlackBerry handsets – the Q20 with a physical keyboard, which is a popular brand and registered Z2 with a screen Touch aiming to Indonesia Marketplace -. to help regain market share
The two BlackBerry smartphones were the first to be produced in a five-year partnership with Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturer is also a major supplier of a major rival, Apple.
The BlackBerry enterprise customers want to achieve.
“Our strategy is to focus on facing companies,” Chen said. “We’ve always been known to be the number one security.”
Analysts, however, are pessimistic about the chances of the company. “BlackBerrys, this is a lost cause, I think “Nordstrom said.Lawrence Lundy, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan, agrees.
” They have tried many things over the years and nothing worked. I do not see the BlackBerry maintaining its presence with the devices for a long time, “said Lundy.
” They lost the balcony of the touch screen, they really believed in the keyboard even seeing the success of the iPhone. “
The Nokia remains the second largest appliance manufacturer in the world, with 13.9% of the market in 2013, but this share is decreasing and is based largely on traditional phones.
In the smartphone market, Nokia was not even in the top five last year.
On Wednesday the sector this week, Nokia unveiled a new range of Nokia smartphones X with a version of the Android operating system, the Google.
It is an amazing action because Android competes directly with Windows Phone, Microsoft, which has completed its acquisition of Nokia this quarter.
The head of Nokia France, Amarger , said the manufacturer used the cheapest Android operating system because it plans to sell appliances for less than 150 euros, eyeing a growing market for new smartphone users.
However, Microsoft will determine the next actions to devices from Nokia.
“Nokia is in a very good position with Microsoft as your betting,” Nordstrom said.
Repositioning Microsoft
“For Microsoft, there will be an exercise in repositioning and they spend much money on it, but there is no evidence that they will reach Apple and Samsung,” he warned.
” When Nokia was a dominant player, was twice as high as the third player. Today Samsung is eight to ten times greater than the third. “
Nokia also will suffer, he said, because it is linked to the Windows Phone system from Microsoft, which is behind the Android and Apple’s iOS .Motorola may, however, have a slightly better outlook after its acquisition by Lenovo, said Julian Jest, an analyst at research group Informa.
“This will change the dynamics as Motorola operates, “said Jest.
However, Motorola may face difficulties to innovate because Google got most of his patents and his creative team, explained.
Motorola was the only one among the three who has not released a new product for the largest fair in the world of mobile telephony.
Motorola is “very strong” in Latin America and North America, where it remains as the third manufacturer, recalled the product manager of the company, Rick Osterloh.
The scale and position of Lenovo in the PC market will give Motorola unprecedented access to technology, he said in Barcelona.
