Since Nokia launched its new Lumia line of smartphones in November 2011, Nokia has sold an estimated 1.3M units, according to information gathered from a number of analysts. This may be an early sign that Stephen Elop’s move to Windows Phone (from Symbian) is paying off, even if he is managing expectations by focusing on the long-term aspect of Nokia’s smartphone fight with Apple, and Google.Since the new Windows Phone direction was announced and affirmed at Mobile World Congress, we felt that this was the best path for Nokia because at that point, it seemed unlikely that the company could break out with the Symbian and Meego operating systems. Meego has since been abandoned by Nokia’s partner at the time: Intel. Not surprisingly, sales of Symbian smartphones are reportedly 36% lower following the launch of the Lumia line.
Of course, there is still a long way to go, and Nokia is clearly not out of the woods. However, we may look back at the Lumia launch and see that it was the most important event for Nokia in the past few years, as it may be an inflexion point for its smartphone “come back”. Only time will tell, but I’m hearing from developers that they expect Windows Phone to be the 3rd platform that they support. Most of them say that Microsoft’s development tools are still the best out there which, in time, should translate into quality apps.
