Re: Nokia ends phone assembly in Europe
 

In terms of build?

Especially pertinent since this thread is about assembly.

Re: Nokia ends phone assembly in Europe
 

Well , in my opinion quality should not be affected , all apple products are all assembled in China and their construction quality it's much higher than other brands . Look at iphone 4 , if you clasp it you can't hear any noise (crack noise). If you take SGS2 and clasp it , you will feel like clasping a biscuit . That's why I love N900 , it feels very solid and hard , it could be considered a lethal weapon too . :D

Personally , on a quality scale from 1 to 10 , apple get's 10 , nokia 8 and samsung somewhere under 6 .

I do not judge nokia for doing this as long as they keep or improve the quality of their products but shame on them for leaving Europe , it's sad .

Re: Nokia ends phone assembly in Europe
 

in most terms, but especially when it comes to carry a company in need of a great phone.

They trying to be like samsung?

Re: Nokia ends phone assembly in Europe
 

TBQH I remember nokia being a cool company by 2004/2005. They were constantly in contact with symbian websites, blogs and their customers. The first time I was able to run Picodrive on a phone was on my 6600 during that time and that changed my opinion of what a phone could be forever. After the launch of the n95 they stopped being the same company. Negative reviews started pouring in on their newer models (96/97/n81) and the ngage 2.0 platform got lackluster support from both publishers and customers. Yet, those same dedicated symbian websites and blogs that had supported Nokia for years couldn't write anything bad about the company because they feared being blacklisted from events and stuff. It's like they were covering their ears and singing while their business crumbled around them. I distinctly remember reading about this on allboutsymbian or my-symbian, don't quite recall which one.

Re: Nokia ends phone assembly in Europe
 

You are absolutely right with sub-contractors and cost. However, there is another cost that needs to part of the equation: Brand value.

Maybe 15 years or so ago, Philips was one of the largest TV set makers with manufacturing and assembly in plants across the globe, including Europe. They transfered everything to Asia, they outsourced, joint ventured and sold. Today they are no significant player in the TV segment anymore, if you buy a Philips TV today you get a "TPV". And Philips made losses in their TV business for years...

On the contrary, BMW has plants across the globe. Their main manufacturing is in Europe in some of the most expensive countries to manufacture (Germany, Austria). They also assemble in the U.S., Africa and China. They are very profitable, they can charge more for their products than competitors, and they have the brand cachet "Made in Germany".

I'm not saying that it would be easy to manufacture consumer electronics cost effectively in Europe. But I think there is brand value that goes down the drain if your manufacturing leaves Europe.

Here is another thought: Nokia seems desparate to get successful in the U.S. What if they opened an assembly plant in the U.S. for some high priced smartphones and go to the market touting "Nokia xyz, the only phone manufactured in the U.S.".

But this would be a creative move and needed smart management to get off the ground. I am sure that smart management is in short supply at Nokia nowadays.

Re: Nokia ends phone assembly in Europe
 

I have to disagree. Harmattan has only the N9 and N950. Out of all of the WP7 phones, the Lumia 800 is better than all of the rest of the WP7 phones, HTC Titan II probably excepted.

But each phone OS needs a model that all others aspire to be. Google got it right with their Nexus line. Those are to be the "experience" phones for that OS - so throw the most up-to-date OS, updated hardware and features, then have them trickle down to the other phone manufacturers.

WP7 finally has one with the Lumia 800 and 900. A "halo phone", or flagship - finally for WP7. Hate WP7 as much as you may want, you have to look at each and every mobile OS and you will find that each of them have had a "flagship" of sorts.

I don't see Nokia trying to be like Samsung. I see Microsoft trying to find their flagship and push it upfront like Google does with the Nexus line.

You do know that the manufacturers have to vie for the Nexus line designation?

Re: Nokia ends phone assembly in Europe
 

Can't argue with that. Problem is, Nokia isn't living it's best times.
Some of the Hungary workers said that almost 30% of the lines where not doing anything and these lay offs came in no surprise.

Nokia had made good use of the Made in Finland, probably better than it ever even realized. Though at this point making products that people will buy is way more important than where the phone is made.

Like said, pretty much all Nokia phones where manufactured outside Europe already.



As for the TV business. That TV market is one of the most brutal out there. I know because i have worked for one of former big TV and actual panel manufacturer.
Couple of years ago all of the big manufacturers where making a loss on their panels, just to get them moving. Today former big guy, Sony has already pretty much left the actual panel manufacturing as well.

Re: Nokia ends phone assembly in Europe
 

and than came n900 and n8 and company started to go the right way until microsoft came into play...

Re: Nokia ends phone assembly in Europe
 

Nokias windows line is a joke. To even use them in the same post as Titan II is ... funny ;)

The "best" nokia windows phone is lumia 710. t's not as expensive as the lumia 800 and even more ridiculous, the lumia 900 which almost the same as 800.

And now they are moving to Asia, and think like this: hey, lets move to asia and we are like the rest of the mobile venders. SUCCESS! The only problems is: they have better phones to a better price. Lets take Samsung Omnia W, Old hw bu the price and the specs compared to lumia 800 is ... Lets say goodbye nokia!

Re: Nokia ends phone assembly in Europe
 

And why did Microsoft come in play? Because the nerdy N8 and N900 didn't sell. N8 marked the start of Symbian going mostly outside of Western market.
Nothing wrong with that, but Nokia does need that Western market as well. Symbian was not going to do that, MeeGo did take ages to have anything done. Nokia seemed to do pretty much 100% the work on MeeGo mobile side.