In this paper, I am going to discuss about Nokia phones from the Nokia Corporation. This is a Finish company. Nokia was considered as the leading manufacturer of mobile phone devices by market share; the corporation was considered as the world’s leading communications and internet industry. The organization produces all manner of devices to meet the various segments of consumers. In the telecommunication industry, Nokia has travelled a long way; it started with its pioneer phone products NMT handheld mobile phone called Mobira Cityman that was launched in the year 1987 as Nokia’s first GSM phone to Nokia 1011 that was launched in the year 2002. The latest series of Nokia is Nseries and Eseries. In this paper, I am going to deal with Nokia Nseries because it has reached its maturity stage.
Nokia Corporation is a Finland multinational communication company. It has its headquarters in Keilaniemi, a city that neighbors Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. The company produces mobile phones for all types of customers to meet major market segments as well as protocol such as CDMA, GSM, and W-CDMA. Nokia phone products have evolved from the basic mobile phones to high-end multimedia phones. As the only developer of the GSM technology, there has been minimal or no competition faced by the company. The company has established itself as a manufacturer of stylish, symbol and user-friendly phones; the number of mobile phones has increased at faster rate resulting in decrease in prices (Baines, Fill & Page, 2010).
Nokia Nseries is a phone that came after other conventional phones manufactured by Nokia corporation. The Nseries was using Nokias 60 as its operating system. Following the advent of internet chatting and internet, people became increasingly interested in phones that could be used for other things more than just texting and calling. Following the introduction of Nokia series of phones, the sale for conventional phones declines because it came with new features. This led to the introduction of Nokia Nseries that was a new generation phone.
Nokia introduced the following N series of mobile phones: N70, N90 and N91. This was considered as smart move by the company to introduce the three main types of phones simultaneously. During the introduction, N70 and N91 became a big hit while N90 became a complete failure. The three Nseries phones effectively replaced the following series of phones 7250, 7650 and 7210. The introduction of Nokia Nseries by Nokia Corporation came at a crucial time (Funk, 2004).
The year 1990s was the growth stage of Nseries because of increased use of GSM systems in several countries by many operators. The Nokia Nseries types of phones are branded types of phones that are simple and attractively designed. The new phone also supports a quality print-photography and a quality video recording. The Nokia Nseries also guarantee a rich musical experience. The phones are good for customers who are mobile and would want to have a portable gadget with elegant and sleek design. From the year 2005, the sales of Nokia Nseries grew at a sharp rate of 35.5 percent and then it started declining. This was because of the dynamism of the mobile phones industry and the trending manufacturing of new phones with time.
The maturity of Nseries phones was witnessed in the middle of 2005 and the beginning of 2006. During this time, people were buying new phones that came with attractive features than the Nseries make. The market share for Nseries was very high but during this time, it could not improve. During this time the market share for the phones were on increase and people loved it because it Nseries had all features required of a phone; it was considered as a form of communication as well as a multimedia tool for general entertainment.
On the decline, the Nseries of phones started declining in 2006. This decline was not necessitated by the changes in the trend or because of competition but it was due to the introduction of new phone series. The introduction of E series resulted in the automatic decline; this was because of its excellent concepts and advanced features. E series was designed for those people who were rich and belonged to the upper economic and social class; this was because this category of people felt ashamed of carrying simple phones. E series utilized the advanced form of s60 operating system and it was youth oriented. The problem with Nseries started in 2006 following the introduction of Nokia E50 series that was considered stylish and small as well as easy to use with sophisticated camera. E50 also had professional features of modern mobile phones but only lacked the musical aspect of the Nokia. These types of phone was targeted and designed for old but rich men. The young generation also felt in love with these types of phone and hence the sales for E50 dramatically increased because of the shifts in customer need from Nseries to E series. (Baines, Fill & Page, 2010).
Financial resources play a critical in the operation of an organization. Financial resources are important in the development and marketing of a new product. Nokia has a strong financial backbone and hence development of a new product is not a problem. This financial muscle has enabled Nokia to promote its products. This has also enabled the company to attract a lot of investors. The strong financial resources have enabled the company to develop advanced products each time. The main sources of financial resources for Nokia Corporation are banks, investors, shareholders, stakeholders and government. The business operations and the cost at Nokia are aimed at meeting demand and safeguarding competitiveness of the company in the future. The company, however, continues to seek savings with operational costs by analyzing the areas and activities of the company (Baines, Fill & Page, 2010).
The corporation intends to utilize public market to fund the production and marketing of Nseries. This is to coincide with the plans of issuing bonds to enable the company gauge investor confidence and finance the product growth. The money raised from bonds will be used to pay their debt and finance future investments of the company. Nokia Corporation finances its product development and marketing through private equity, there is no government funding that is used to aid the operations and marketing of Nokia Nseries. Raising money from private equity will coincide with the emergence of cheap Chinese phones into the market. The acquisition of Nokia Corporation by the Microsoft enabled the company to raise funds for the development and marketing of Nokia products which become part of Microsoft.
Much of the funding of Nokia Nseries has been bilateral. The capital required for the promotion and development of Nseries is through borrowing; Nokia Corporation has mobilized domestic borrowing from various stakeholders. The government of Finland also has interests in the telecommunication sector and as such it has aided in the financing of the Nokia’s operation through Teke. The increased role of the government in the financing and operations of Nokia was due to the interest of the Finish government in the telecommunication industry. The government of Finland, therefore, used a lot of resources in ensuring the development of new Nokia brands. Nokia has also managed to finance its operations through borrowing from banks and selling of shares.
Market wise, the company has identified its target market based on the type of the customers and their requirements. Phones with certain facilities and features are intended for certain segmented market. Target market is based on the demographic location, as well as psychographic and the behavioral difference among workers. The main market for Nokia N series is the European market. The features that came with the phones and the high pricing made it suitable for clients from the European countries. Another market for Nokia Nseries is the Asian market. This is because of its population and the features of the mobile phones fitted their specifications. Due to the developments in competition in the telecommunication market, it is imperative that the company should consider extending the product life cycle in Asia. This is because the price of the product is still affordable and resonates well with customers from the Asian market. The European market has been infiltrated by high-end phones such as Ipads, tablets and sleek phones from Nokia’s competitors such as Samsung. These phones have more features when compared with Nokia Nseries (Funk, 2004)
References
Funk, J. (2004). The Product Life Cycle Theory and Product Line Management: The Case of Mobile Phones. IEEE transactions on engineering management, 51(2), pp. 142-152.
Baines, P., Fill, C., & Page, K. (2010). Marketing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
