Nokia losing hold on smartphone market?

Nokia yesterday posted a third-quarter net loss of 559 million euro (about R6 billion), its first shortfall this decade. While this is not good news for them, it certainly is not a crises given the current economic climate.

The news that I was more interested in learning is that Nokia estimated its share of the global smart phone market fell to 35 % from 41 % in the second quarter. This certainly must be alarming them. I must say that while I have always been a bit of a Nokia fan, okay a die-hard supporter for 10 years, they simply have not been able to match the likes of Apple when it comes to their user interface.

While the hardened fans will say that this is simply not true, I was one of these for many years, you cannot ignore the steps that others have made.

I, as many of you will know, moved onto the Apple Iphone 3gs, while the tethering issue remains a big bug bear for me, the rest of the device is, simply put, light years ahead of the Nokia offering. After 10 years of supporting this manufacturer, I needed to eventually make the change.

I would put myself firmly in the ramp up stage of the consumer curves so Nokia you need to take heed of your research, I think that you may be losing market share faster than you have alluded to in your reporting.