Nokia Failures

It must be stressful to be working in the world of cell phone development and service right now.  It seems to be a constant race to see who can provide the best phones for the lowest price with the service contracts that will attract customers from other providers.  Some have been more successful than others; I recently read an article about a setback Nokia is experiencing.

Nokia Corp. is trying to launch it's new smartphone called the Lumia, and has been working with Microsoft for the software since last year.  It was just recently announced that the 2 million + owners of current Lumia phones won't be able to upgrade to the new software.  This will hurt sales because many people will probably wait for the new version which has the upgraded software, or just change to a new phone or provider.  This could also impact the consumer's view and loyalty to the company, I know if I had this phone I would definitely not be happy I couldn't get the latest version without getting a new phone.  It is interesting how problems a company can't foresee (or sometimes make poor decisions they could have avoided) can impact sales so much, especially in a market where there are many substitutes.  To make it worse, the company announced that  second-quarter earnings would be worse than expected, and a round of layoffs ensued.

It's a cutthroat business world out there, and it's interesting to watch the successes and failures that go on.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304898704577480340752531300.html?grcc=22222Z0ZwdgtZ0Z0Z0Z0Z0&mod=WSJ_article_forwdgt