Video: Nokia C2-01 review. And a mini Rant.
PhoneArena reviews one of Nokia’s bread and butter handsets, the budget feature phone, Nokia C2-01, which launched November last year.
Importance is understanding the position of these handsets, match the expectation. Having said that, typically of Nokia, it packs a punch. 3G, 3.2MP with full focus, 3-4 day battery, makes calls without dropping, etc. It is a feature phone. Something common sense on that part is obviously missing in the youtube comments that seem to think this should be doing iPhone related things.
I’ve ranted a bit before about how due to Nokia having such a variety of handsets, extreme low ends and nothing really at the top, there’s nothing there to earn desirability of the brand as it might have done pre 2007. All people see right now is “crappy” smartphones and “crappy feature phones” resulting in “nokia = crappy” perception. We are in desperate need of having a true flagship. e.g. Ferrari – associated with super cars, highly desirable. Ferrari branded scooter. Same cheap thing the next scooter but Ferrari connotation makes it so much cooler.
Much overly simplified, and of course, outside US/UK and other parts of the world, Nokia is regarded very high end brand. It’s one of the most respected and recognized, but it’s slipping. Gradually being associated with the something antiquated. If you have just one superphone, recognized as such, that brand value trickles down. This is plain basic, but yet we’re stuck still with mid-range handsets at best. As cool as N8 was in 2010, it is now, sadly as laws of life goes, is 2011. And even then you could say internally with the processor it was pushing it (thanks to that powerful GPU that made up for it).
You see they need to think about the Brasilian, Indonesian, Indian and Chinese markets. that way they can continue for some months or years to report growing sales and blow smoke up our behinds as they have been doing for 2 years now.
The N8 could have been more if marketing had been atempted, instead they chose to see US-only and go WP and hit their loyal customers in the face by dropping Symbian.
One blunder after the other and it doesn’t seem that Mr Elop has changed much in that regard.
I think WP will explode thei US sales (not really hard to achieve) but that it will not fly in Europe. Nokia will grow in the US high end, grow a little more worldwide in the low end but in the end it’ll have been the wrong decision.
You made a really good point here regarding punching for the market value by just one and only one device to show the world they are in the race as kings.
To answer your mini rant Jay for any company in the world to create amazing low end products as well as amazing high end products at the same time is insanely difficult lets take your Car analogy.
Take Volkswagen because they have a perception of selling good engineered well built golfs it is difficult for them to sell anything in the top range, there aren’t many people that would buy a 100 000 grand Volkswagen except of fanboys. The solution was they bought luxury brands to fill that gap, they bought Bugatti, Audi-Lamborghini as they specialise in that area and they have the brand that people aspire to.
Lets take Ferrari they are owned by Fiat because they know that people wouldn’t buy 100,000 grand Fiats and because Fiat isn’t associated with expensive supercars.
It is so much easier to concentrate on one section of the market like Ferrai or Apple with the iPhone. Steve Jobs always gets ask why can’t you make cheaper products ? Simple because those products would be crap but also because Apple are seen as a company that sell expensive computers and people love buying expensive things it makes people feel good about themselves and they can show off in front of their friends if Apple started selling cheap products that feel of exclusivity would fade away. that why Apple have sacrificed market share for profit, but that might change with the iPad.
To come back to Nokia, Nokia are a more like a Fiat while Apple are more like a Porsche if Nokia made one phone a year, I am pretty sure Phone’s would be collecting dust at warehouses
. In a way the feature phones are dragging down Nokia. Nokia’s brand perception is at a all time low they are not a brand to aspire to anymore like the competition.
Gaining that high end brand perception is almost harder than making a great phone, that is what Nokia have to try and regain that brand that everyone wants to aspire to, to make the Microsoft alliance successful or it might end in tears even if Nokia do make great phones again.
Good points.
Nokia did have Nseries for high end branding to differentiate from the cheapos (then there was vertu but that was high in terms of materials).
For a time they rocked. In interviews with managers from other manufacturers, they envied the success and desirability of these devices. Nokia were the best cheapo and the best high end.
But then for some reason, they started producing devices that didn’t belong in the Nseries. They gradually became associated with delays and being buggy.
The analogy of cars was meant to describe Nokia smartphones as the cars and something like a scooter being dumbphone, but still cool because of brand association with those cars. I guess a better all car analogy maybe ford. Cheap KA/Fiesta and more expensive Mondeos, GT ETC.
Still though, Ford not the totally top (desirable) phone brand whereas Nokia once was. I guess there could optionally be something like Dell/XPS/Alienware, HP and Envy to your VW/Bugatti/Labo. Cover the cheap, make good at high end.
Which brings me onto the point of having a separate series/name for the ultra high end. One that retains the name over time to get that branding recognised. This crap thing they had with postcodes and now with the endless Nxx-xx. wth. Of course, this would need Nokia to have a high end device to begin with.
I dont know for some reason Nseries has never done it maybe its just me. They definitely need to start keeping a name for their highest end phone and not something stupid as N950 as that MeeGo device was supposedly called.
The first real Wp7 iPhone competitor or the leader of Nokia’s phone portfolio will have to have a name that is remembered as the Nokia everyone dreams about the absolute high end. Something like Droi,d almost everyone remembers the droid as the iPhone competitor no one remembers the N8 as an iPhone competitor. Its a physiological thing Nokia needs its not all about specs and features
Meanwhile, over at Nokia:
HAHAHA So true
Then, as Toyota brought out Lexus as a high end brand under a different name. Nokia should do the same in America.
Nokia just release this phone in Indonesia with embed latest Nokia Life Tools Service (health)
This phone too good and realible