I think it is appropriate to post this here, it confirms that the threat from Apple competition is not viewed by Nokia execs with the same complacency as is being expressed on this forum.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,13...l?tk=nl_dnxnws

Sorry, I was more distracted by Motorola's strategy to be "boringly consistent." Now *that's* a strategy for success...i mean, status quo.

Full quote (which most of those articles are NOT providing):

"I am not soft-spoken about our traditional competitors like Motorola. When we look ahead, we will be and are competing more and more against players like RIM and Apple. I am paranoid about all the competition and this paranoia is shared in our organization. It keeps us focused on execution and innovation."

http://seekingalpha.com/article/5041...all-transcript

Sounds to me like he's saying they're willing to take the threats from competitors more seriously than they might be realistically since it will drive them stronger to improve their products. Nice sentiment for an earnings call, but let's wait to see if they actually mean it.

Thanks for the elaboration on the Nokia position, it changes the perception of it quite a bit.

The Motorola strategy does make you wonder.

All companies should take their competitors seriously, regardless how little threat they are perceived to be.
Although being 'paranoid' about them - possibly too far. I worked for a company that was paranoid about the competition to a level that was excessive and damaging to progress. Hopefully they aren't that bad!

At least in the short term, I won't be considering a Touch for an IT. Without bluetooth it would be useless to me at least 50% of the time. And no GPS (built-in or add-on) is another nail in it's coffin...

Jeff

Thank you for that sober reply Andrew. I do agree fully with your final assessment, and apologize for my own occasional irrationality.

And Milhouse: again, it remains to be seen what the long term may bring. Apple's approach is like a blazing comet; Nokia's is like a steady freight train. Risk and reward can be found in either approach, in equal measure.

To me success for any product that has any sort of competition comes down to, as I have preached numerous times, differentiation. I continue to believe that most consumers do not focus on common aspects between devices when they decide to buy-- those decisions are made on what sets a device apart from its competition. And the deciding factors are largely personal, too, wherein what induces me to buy product A may ironically turn you away toward product B. In that sense, all things considered, I would still prefer an N800 over an iPhone-- warts on all. And no, I don't say that as an employee of the competition but as a user who knows the iPhone can't do what I want.

Apple's decision to open the API is indeed a good one IMO, and I applaud it. However, it must be noted that it is nowhere near the extent of openness the tablets enjoy. The question remains, then, how much of the potential for he tablets will go unrealized. Given that Nokia now says the company is on step 3 of a 5 step process toward a tablet in every hand, it looks like the freight train has not yet reached full steam. Let's see what the comet does in the meantime.

I'd have thought success in the markets frequented by Nokia and Apple would be determined by sales, and not by an ephemeral notion such as differentiation. Nokia can and is a huge organisation, but unless their devices appeal to the mass market - which is unquestionably the case with Apple products - then Nokia will not achieve great success with NITs. Fact, freight train or not - you can't make people buy what they don't want.

Nokia are clearly taking their time to get it right, but by the time they achieve Step 5 of their plan the competition will have a user base in the tens of millions, with the ecosystem (applications and accessories) to cater for those users, and iPod (and/or iPhone) will become synonymous with "mobile internet web surfing" just as iPod has displaced Walkman for "audio on the move". "You want mobile internet?" "Buy an iPod" Most people won't even think twice or consider an alternative, the brand and marketing is _that_ strong and effective.

Nokia faces an uphill struggle to compete for sales against Apple - just look at Microsoft and the Zune, is this going to be Nokia NITs in future? The Zune appeals to a few people, it differentiates itself from Apple products, but it doesn't come close to matching Apple sales.

I know we're not comparing Apples with apples here, and that you firmly believe in the goodness of the open approach followed by Nokia (as do I) but with my shareholder hat on it's beholden on Nokia to make the Internet Tablets a sales success (which they are not, yet) and the slow, plodding approach only allows the competition to dominate a market that could have been Nokias. Will Nokia ever regain the ground they have already lost? I have my doubts.

Having said that, I'm warming to the N810 and can see some appeal in it's design although the price is somewhat off putting, particularly when you factor in the additional licence cost for GPS routing.

I think 2008 will be a very interesting year for Nokia NITs, Intel MIDs and above all Apple iPhone/Touch mkII.

Progress needs to be made by Nokia in 2008 (step 4) and with luck Nokia can capitalise on the marketing blitz that will follow the release of the Intel MIDs, ensuring further success in 2009 (step 5).

But Nokia and (perhaps even Intel MIDs) will always be of minority interest to the *GENERAL PUBLIC*, as I simply can't see Apple losing the plot with their iPhone/Touch devices in the near future, and a "tablet in every hand" will most likely remain a Nokia pipe dream.

Milhouse, agreed.

With the announcement that Apple shipped 1,119,000 iPhones in one quarter alone, we can just hope that Nokia continue to bankroll this project long enough to organically grow that sort of popularity and ecosystem which Apple has been nurturing for so long.

1.2m iPhones in one quarter. In one country. That's impressive by any stretch of the imagination. Mindboggingly impressive.

Steve Jobs may be a perfectionist, he may have no dress sense, but - damn - at least one of those things makes him a damned good businessman.

Milhouse, I didn't say sales was determined by differentiation-- I said purchaser choice was. Of course, that choice does drive sales, but again, Apple and Nokia are moving at different rates here (both intentionally) so I still think predictions of success or failure are premature.

And contrary to your last point, I don't see the company with nearly 40% of the global cell phone market rolling over for Apple or any other company.

FYI, I started buying Nokia stock again (before I even hired on) at around $15 USD per share. It's now at around $37. I'm betting stockholders are happy... the tablets don't currently affect that valuation either way in any measureable amount. I doubt you can say that for any of the few SKUs in Apple's portfolio.

http://finance.google.com/finance?ch...APL&q=NYSE:NOK
:P