Rumors and predictions are flying everywhere early on this year, and Nokia is no exception to the rule. While Nokia definitely saw improvement regarding the Lumia 920 sales over their previous Lumia models, it might not be enough to stop them from having to report a seventh straight abysmal quarterly loss. Should Nokia actually suffer a seventh quarterly loss in a row, would it be enough to make them call it quits?
To be clear, right now Nokia has sent no official statement indicating that they actually plan to shift out of the mobile industry. At the moment, it’s purely speculation due to the fact that they have six straight quarterly losses on record. The same rumor popped up in 2011 that there was a possibility of Nokia selling their assets to Microsoft, but Nokia stated that they were, in fact, not planning on selling any assets to anybody. It’s quite possible that these rumors are just resurfacing in the midst of an influx of other rumors flying around regarding the possibilities this year holds for us.
Nokia has had a long run with their mobile handsets. What would cell phones be without your poster child Nokia brick phone? Somebody else would have eventually come up with the idea, I’m sure, but Nokia beat everyone to the punch. After the brick era, you would come across a few Nokia phones here and there (nothing that wasn’t completely overshadowed by other cell phones) until finally they decided to pair up with Microsoft to focus on the Windows Phone platform. That brings us to right now.
Tristan Louis, Forbes contributor and Keepskar founder, made this prediction for 2013 in regards to the future of Nokia:
“The biggest shocker (and what I suspect will be my most controversial prediction), though, will be the [sic] departure of Nokia from the phone business as the company sells its mobile operation and infrastructure divisions to Huawei in order to focus on software and services,” Louis wrote.
Louis also goes on to mention that he thinks Microsoft and Huawei would compete for Nokia should its ship sink.
It’s not that farfetched of a prediction. So many losses in a row sound like an awfully long losing streak to me. But you have to consider, what would become of Windows Phone 8 if there’s no Nokia? Only a handful of other manufacturers have ever had anything to do with the Windows Phone operating system, none of which have had nearly as much influence as Nokia due to the Nokia and Microsoft partnership. I’m not sure if the reasoning Nokia has so much influence is due to Microsoft being selective, or because manufacturers just don’t see Windows Phone benefiting their sales as much as Android would. If Nokia goes down, surely Windows Phone would tank soon after unless Microsoft develops a phenomenal new device.
Since this is purely based off of speculation at the moment, there’s really not much of a reason to fret about it if you’re a Nokia fan. It is only a thought since we are dealing with a company that’s clearly not getting much out of something they invested so heavily in. If it were to end up that Nokia exits the smartphone industry this year, it would surely become one of the most notable events to occur in 2013. I guess we’ll just have to wait if this prediction comes to fruition.
Readers, what do you think of this prediction? Do you think it actually holds any grounds, or is just another rumor bound to get buried within a few weeks’ time? What do you think Nokia should do different to pick it back up from these setbacks? Let me know in the comments!
