mobile

Microsoft strategy success: Nokia no more

Albert Zenkoff

Now it should be painfully obvious to everyone that the long-term strategic plan of Microsoft to bring down and absorb Nokia worked. Many years of hard work by high-profile managers and large investments are finally set to bring home profit for Microsoft.

Now that Nokia is bought by Microsoft, Microsoft can finally make the mobile devices that are, well, mobile devices. They will have the technology, the market, and the people. Unfortunately, they still have to make it all work. They still may run this very successful business of Nokia into the ground. And there is a high chance they will.

There was a time when I was wondering if it was just a Microsoft venture, or a joint venture by Microsoft and Samsung. Actually, no, I would not go as far as to say it is all clear now. We will see how things pan out.

The hole in the market remains though and the market share of Nokia is still up to grabs. The biggest problem is really the patent pool. This is the time when you wish there were no such things as patents. The market could flood with new and exciting mobile phones now if …
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Everything is a hammer…

Albert Zenkoff

It looks like for Stephen Elop, the Microsoft  manager in charge of Nokia, everything looks like a Windows computer. What is all this nonsense about Nokia delivering cheap smartphones in developing countries? That market is already taken, first by LG and Samsung and then a couple times over by Chinese manufacturers. He ran the most successful mobile company in the world into the ground and he should be proud of that achievement. I am sure he is. Can you imagine what it takes, what kind of dedication, to actually take the market leader and run it into the ground, destroy everything very quickly and systematically? It is a mind-boggling achievement. We will be watching Stephen for his next career move to see what company will be brought to its knees next.

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The Future of NFC Payments

Albert Zenkoff

Someone asked me to provide feedback on an article regarding The Future of NFC Payments (yes, capitalized, like in “Big Future”). I do not cherish the idea of giving up my contact details for a brochure download, so I did not read the actual paper. I cannot imagine why people would not want their ideas to be widespread. I think it is silly to force people to register when you want them to read your articles, for they will simply read it elsewhere.

Anyhow, back to the subject of mobile payments with NFC – that’s what the paper claims to be about. I do not really know what they said inside but seeing “NFC was hailed as one of the biggest trends for mobile operators for 2011” in the blurb is enough to get an idea of what might be on the inside.

Now, let’s be clear that mobile payments are a fighting ground for two large forces: the banking industry and the mobile service industry. Both of them deal with a lot of customers and a lot of cash. And none of them would willingly give up the payment transactions stream to another. One, the banking industry, owns the …
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