Nokia’s efforts to revitalize their smartphone business will continue in 2013 with efforts to “broaden the portfolio with AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.” Chris Weber, Nokia’s executive vice president of sales and marketing says the company is focused on building those relationships.
“We constantly evaluate, in the U.S. market or whatever market, what partners we’re with,” he said. “Right now our focus is really on broadening the portfolio with AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.”
During an interview last week at the Consumer Electronics Show, Weber stated that the goal for his company is to have high-end, mid-range and low-end Lumia devices on all of its carrier partners. Nokia’s focus will continue to be on its imaging technology and software and highlighting those differences against the competition.
“We’re just getting started on those innovations,” he said, referring to the optical imaging stabilization capabilities in the Lumia 920. “We can create some experiences that are really different and better for consumers.”
Weber acknowledged that Nokia still has plenty of ground to make up and faces challenges in doing so. The company has worked with Microsoft and operators on its marketing and sales strategies to help boost sales. Furthermore, Weber said that Nokia is still confident about its switch to Windows Phone as their primary platform and believes the company’s ecosystem will win over customers.
“This ecosystem game is not for the faint of heart,” he said. “It’s difficult. It takes massive investment.” He said Microsoft’s ecosystem goes beyond phones to tablets, PCs and gaming systems. “An ecosystem won’t survive without that. It has to have rich assets,” he said. “We have to earn the right to be that third ecosystem. But they have the building blocks and the platform that scales beyond mobile phones. I think those companies that don’t have that will be quite challenged.”
Would you be more likely to buy a Windows Phone device on T-Mobile if selection included a high-end Lumia 920?