Everybody hates Symbian. At sometimes, even Nokia seem to be hating Symbian. But at distant parts of world, there still is a large crowd – millions of people – who still use Symbian everyday. And preserving this market would be critical to Nokia’s success in transitioning to Windows Phone 7 devices.
This brief proposal talks about some ideas, that Nokia can ( and should ) use to bring back Symbian to the top spot in these markets.
Users do not like to be laughed at, by users who use shiny new Androids and iPhones – the majority of whom bash Symbian. And this Symbian bashing comes to them from the tech savvy power users who read the tech blogs. The tech blogs, and the power users are influential enough to portray an image in average Joe’s mind, that Symbian is inferior to the ‘cool’ Androids they use. We’ll come back to talk about this in detail later, but on one hand – this inferior treatment has a ground too. The Symbian UI indeed is low on usability compared to their competitors. But in reality, deep beneath, the core of this issue is not the UI – but Symbian’s inconsistency. What I am going to do, is to detail some simple steps that Nokia can follow to sort out this inconsistency and make Symbian ‘sane’ and clean. These steps will not cost Nokia much ( in fact almost next to nothing compared to their revenues ) and will not take any long time to execute either. These are simple fixes, that Nokia can follow in no time, without spending much.
SOFTWARE
1. Built-in Apps
In power usage, Symbian in fact has a lot more to offer, than Android and iOS. But this is overshadowed by one factor – discoverability. Let’s face the truth – not every user uses App Stores. The key reason the likes of HTC lead, is this. For example, let’s take the case of Wi-Fi tethering.
Symbian has long supported Wi-Fi tethering – even since before Android was ever born – but a majority of Symbian users do not know this. In comparison, almost all HTC Android users know that their device supports Wi-Fi tethering. How? HTC has bundled in “HTC Portable Hotspot”, a Wi-Fi tethering app – as an official tool for their Android devices. There are a number of other similar features too. The simple things like these matter – because these are what the average Joe will touch – not an app purchased from the Ovi Store. The answer, start offering Nokia’s own apps for these kind of features.
The solution is simple – buy JoikuSoft’s JoikuSpot Wi-Fi tethering app and rename it as something like “Nokia Hotspot On The Go” and bundle it with new devices. Or simply offer it with the device, like Nokia used to have F-Secure built-in. Make the Nokia Play To app built-in, and tout the DLNA features. The list can go on, for a range of other features – where Symbian is capable but is not known for.
2. Branding
Nokia recently announced that they will be phasing out the Ovi brand and replacing it with the parent Nokia brand. This is a very good move and will help increase the brand recognition. But Nokia’s execution on this has been so far very poor.
Replacing everything Ovi, with Nokia, sure takes time. But replacing the word Ovi on a 3.5″ screen should not be that hard. Simply replace the Qt based Ovi startup screen with a blue coloured Nokia one (so that it will keep a familiarity with WP7′s blue colour too). Rename the widgets and services from Ovi to Nokia. Simply release a new Ovi Suite version with just the Ovi name replaced by Nokia. This will go a long way in bringing to Symbian, the simplicity and consistency that it presently lacks, rather desperately.
3. Update often, update right
Nokia has been touting a 50+ feature update for its existing Symbian^3 devices since late 2010. The update, then known as PR2.0, was originally promised to be delivered in early 2010. It was then renamed as Symbian Anna, and has now been pushed back to late Q3 for the existing devices. The result of all this has ben that, Nokia teased the users too much, so much so that they fed up of it, and have now lost all trust about Nokia’s “ability to deliver”. Now whenever a blog post about something with a planned release date comes up on Nokia Conversations, the most frequent comment that you see is “It is Nokia. They never deliver.”
This timeframe between announcement and delivery has been something which the present CEO Stepehen Elop was bullish about earlier. But it, unfortunately, has now been beaten by financial reasons. The harsh truth about the Anna update is, it seems, that Nokia willingly pushed back its delivery for existing devices, hoping to increase the sales of Nokia E6 and X7, that came with Anna in-built. A company with a profit warning cannot be blamed for a such move. But there is a lesson, that Nokia should learn from all this, teasing the users too much hurts the brand. Either never promise any updates, or deliver when you promise it.
IMAGE
Nokia back in February, gifted Symbian with its death certificate. I appreciate Mr. Elop being a transparent personality, but that shelf life period is something I still wish if Nokia had kept secret. What happened was that the sales channels got the word, and now indeed are persuading users to buy other brands. This cannot be blamed on the sales channels. The salesman is a human and it is a human instinct to whenever share with others what you have heard. Imagine what would have happened if Nokia instead said in February, that they are adopting WP7 as the primary smartphone OS, but that Symbian would still be supported. You may still have all those shelf life targets for Symbian, but would instead show them only to the investors – not to the media. That could have saved Nokia from a catastrophe. The outcome was that, almost all tech blogs started bashing Nokia, and the fanboys started leaving Nokia. In this internet age, word of mouth is critical for any tech gadget’s success and good PR is invaluable. Both of those would be critical, if Nokia is to make their WP7 plans a success.
Having said that, all is not over. Nokia can still regain what it lost. I would like to invite Mr. Stepehn Elop to write a blog post on Nokia Conversations addressing the fans’ concerns. And better yet, why not start a new blog that will be contributed by everyone in Nokia’s management team ? This would be a radical move that will bring back Nokia the control of its publicity. This will make Nokia a company closer to the heart of its consumers. What else better could happen to a consumer brand? The key is to make the users feel that Nokia is not ignoring them.
MARKETING
Symbian might not be as ‘cool’ as iOS or Android, but Nokia still is a great maker of hardware. The key to Apple’s success is nothing, but great marketing. There is no reason why Nokia cannot do the same. Nokia should star touting its hardware features. For example, penta-band 3G and Bluetooth file-transfer. Nokia can call the E7 as a device that you can use from anywhere in the world. This would neatly fit a lot of globe-trotting executives, businessmen and employees. Nokia should use the marketing effectively to show the world that it still leads.
These small steps are not that hard, will not cost much, and will not take much time. But they will matter a lot to the end-user – the group that ultimately decides Nokia’s fate. And a group which Nokia has been almost ignoring for sometime. I’m sure that these steps will help Nokia to make the situation better and I really hope that Nokia has some ideas to learn from this post. It is high time that they made a move.
I wish Nokia and Mr. Elop all the best!
