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Ideas & Opinions
Innovation means so much more than high end smartphones

By JBC on 01 February 2010

Nokia ups the innovation stakesGLOBAL – Think about innovation and the first thing that pops into most people heads is headline-grabbing, top of the line product. But innovation happens across the board at Nokia, not just at the high end. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a brand new technology, it could just as easily be about taking an existing piece of technology and making it available to a whole new group of people. Mark’s post on Friday sparked a whole load of debate, with a lot commenting on Nokia’s apparent lack of innovation. Really? Well, what about all this then?

But then you get the price. Without taxes or subsidies, this device is destined to retail for about €20 (or about $27). The five-user phonebook is important as where this device is destined for, it’s normal for phones to share owners, typically across five people. So, between the five people, this phone costs a little over $5 each. This is by far, the cheapest mobile device you’ll find on the planet. That Nokia can put a device into someone’s hand for a little over $5, and still make a profit, is utterly outstanding. Worthy of an innovation tag? I think so. What’s more, this is available to people who previously would have no hope of being connected, despite the evidence that shows the improvement being connected makes to their lives.

To say that Nokia doesn’t innovate is plain wrong. Nokia’s approach to innovation doesn’t centre solely around one product which it hopes the many will adopt. It’s about offering a range of devices, to a range of people who have specific needs and wants. It’s also about services, creating and evolving for the needs of those users who will benefit most from them.

Nokia isn’t short on innovation, even when it comes to smartphones. We’re in the middle of a transition for Symbian, the largest it has seen in its long history, where the platform will evolve into a new world of open development, and bring with it a raft of changes and evolutions which will go beyond the innovations we’re seeing everywhere right now.

And there’s Maemo, which in the last six months has gone from a mobile internet device operating system to one that is capable of forming the backbone of a new range of mobile computers bringing with it, too, a new range of innovations starting with the open nature of its design and development. Sure, Nokia isn’t the only one doing this, but it is the only one of its size, scale and stature that is.

Now, what do you think? Is Nokia lacking when it comes to innovation?