Why does Nokia dare to sell its new Android 7.0 phone for 1,699 yuan?

Nokia was once the undisputed king of the mobile phone industry. Back then, Nokia was the only mobile phone brand that could dominate the market from low-end to high-end. At that time, no matter old or young, male or female, rich or poor... everyone was using Nokia phones. If you didn't have a Nokia, you would be embarrassed to take out your phone...

From 1998 to 2011, Nokia mobile phones ranked first in the world in sales for 14 consecutive years. Its global sales were even more than the combined sales of Samsung and Apple, which shows how arrogant Nokia was at the time. It was precisely because of its arrogance that when faced with the rise of new operating system mobile phones, it did not use the Android system developed by Google, but instead joined hands with Intel to create a new mobile terminal operating system MeeGo. It was also because of its "courage" to not follow suit that it paid the price of bankruptcy.

If the rise of Apple only dealt a blow to Nokia, then the rise of the Android system dealt a fatal blow to Nokia. In 2011, Nokia officially declared bankruptcy due to its inability to repay debts, and closed its mobile phone factory in Finland. At the same time, Nokia products began to be withdrawn from the market in many countries. In 2013, Nokia sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft, which meant that Nokia completely withdrew from the mobile phone market. The once glorious Nokia dynasty in the history of mobile communications ended.

Once upon a time, Nokia was the undisputed king of the mobile phone industry. After achieving dominance in 1998, it ruled the market for 14 years, and its brand became almost synonymous with mobile phones. This king, once considered invincible, died suddenly in front of consumers all over the world almost "overnight", which is really sad.

At the 2016 MWC conference, Nokia CEO Rajiv Suri announced that Nokia would return to the mobile phone market. At the end of 2016, the Finnish company HMD global Oy (hereinafter referred to as HMD, the exclusive owner of Nokia mobile phone and tablet brands for ten years) officially announced that it would return to the market with Nokia-branded mobile phones.

HMD not only has the Nokia brand and technology license, but also has a large number of employees from the former Nokia mobile phone business and Microsoft terminals. Arto Nummela, the CEO, joined Nokia in 1994 and later served as the head of Microsoft's mobile device business in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and was responsible for Microsoft's global feature phone business. HMD is responsible for the mobile phone market and sales, Nokia provides the brand and technology, Foxconn provides R&D and production, and Google provides the operating system (HMD is Google's partner). So who is responsible for sales? Read on.

At the CES 2017 conference in the United States, Nokia held a new product launch conference. At the conference, Nokia's "new owner" HMD officially launched the long-rumored new Android phone - Nokia 6; this is a model launched for the Chinese market. It is understood that the reason why it was named "Nokia 6" is mainly taken from the Chinese meaning of "smoothness", and the "former king" has also begun to......

Speaking of Nokia's new phone Nokia 6, I suddenly thought of a traditional Chinese saying - "A hammer must be hard to make iron", the literal meaning is not difficult to understand: the hammer used in ironmaking must be hard, if it is not hard, how can it make hard iron. Next, let's learn about the Nokia 6 product itself.

Let's talk about the basics first. Nokia 6 uses a 5.5-inch 1080P Hybird In-cell LCD screen, supplemented by Corning Gorilla 2.5D glass; it is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, runs a 4GB+64GB memory combination, and supports memory card expansion; the front camera is 8 million pixels, the rear camera is 16 million pixels, and the aperture is F/2.0; it supports Dolby technology, front fingerprint recognition, fingerprint payment, dual SIM dual standby, and the three major operators. It has a built-in 3000mAh battery and is pre-installed with the Android 7.0 operating system.

The hardware parameters are acceptable, with 4GB+64GB memory combination, 8MP+16MP camera, and Android 7.0 system, which should be considered as mid-range product specifications; however, the entry-level Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor is not as good as the current mid-range smartphones. You should know that the Redmi 3S with Snapdragon 430 is only priced at 699 yuan, while this Nokia 6 is 1,000 yuan more expensive; it is questionable to use a mid-range product with no outstanding performance to "explore the way".

Regarding the craftsmanship of Nokia 6, HMD's Chief Product Officer stated that it took 50 minutes to polish a whole piece of 6000 series aluminum alloy into shape, followed by two anodizing steps and no less than five polishing steps. The entire process took more than 10 hours. At the same time, a full bonding process was used, with the gap between the glass and the metal frame being less than 0.05 mm. In terms of craftsmanship, Nokia 6 can vaguely be seen as the outstanding Nokia in terms of visual effects and quality. However, if you remove the Nokia Logo on the body, can you imagine that this is a Nokia phone?

Next, let's talk about Nokia 6's operating system. It is understood that the system optimization of Nokia 6 is completed by HMD's Chinese team, and Foxconn provides technical support. I have to complain that the circular icon UI design is really ugly. If such design optimization wants to catch up with the domestic mobile phone systems that have been deeply cultivated for many years, the author only wants to say "the road is long and arduous."

If Nokia had abandoned Symbian earlier and embraced Android, it would be hard to imagine who would be the leader of the smartphone industry now. Anyway, Nokia finally adopted the Android system this time, but it was nine years later than the "ideal time" (HTC, Samsung, LG, etc. switched to the Android camp in 2008); but it was during these nine years that the mobile phone industry underwent earth-shaking changes.

You know, the current smartphone industry has long been a fierce battleground, and has seen the departure of wave after wave of mobile phone manufacturers. It can be said that the growth rate has slowed down and the competition is fierce. Even Apple, the industry leader, has seen a continuous decline in shipments, revenue and profits. In the Android camp, Samsung is at the top. In addition, the camps of Chinese mobile phone manufacturers have long been clearly divided into two major camps: the "quality-price ratio" represented by Huawei, OPPO and vivo, and the "cost-effectiveness" represented by Xiaomi, LeTV, 360, Meizu, etc. It is difficult for Nokia to form its own competitive advantage among the many opponents mentioned above.

As mentioned above, HMD is a Finnish company composed of former Nokia employees. Its CEO Arto Nummela joined Nokia in 1994 and later served as Microsoft's director of mobile device business in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and was responsible for Microsoft's global feature phone business. Florian Seiche, who is now the president of HMD, was previously Microsoft's senior vice president of sales and marketing for the mobile business in Europe, and has also served as a senior executive at Nokia and HTC.

What do you think after reading this? Both Nokia and Microsoft have been associated with failure and marginalization in the smartphone industry. This does not deny the ability of these leaders, but HMD does lack some DNA for success. Given the fierce competition in the smartphone market, "successful experience" is becoming more and more important.

Finally, regarding the sales channel of Nokia 6, HMA chose to cooperate with JD.com, making it the exclusive first seller of Nokia 6. It is not difficult to understand why they chose to cooperate with JD.com. On the one hand, JD.com is the largest B2C e-commerce platform in China, and on the other hand, JD.com has been a partner of Nokia since its inception. However, this does not guarantee sales.

As we all know, Nokia's golden age of brand influence in the mobile phone industry was during the era of feature phones. In the era of smartphones, Apple has long replaced it, and Nokia has even become a negative example of "transformation"; although HMD said that the market research results are good and consumers still like the Nokia brand, the author only wants to say: liking is just liking, it does not mean that you will be together (buy).

As for the so-called sentiment, this is a machine put together by HMD and Foxconn, sold under the Nokia brand, but it is not designed by Nokia, nor is it produced by Nokia; if the skin is gone, where will the hair be attached? When the brand shrinks and the product competition is weak, the sentiment will become vulnerable! It is undeniable that Nokia is a milestone mobile phone brand, especially for the author born in the 1990s. It has accompanied me for most of my youth, and perhaps it will never come back, just like youth.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.