MNB RG: Nokia 5230 the unsung “hero” device

This was sent in by long time reader, who wishes to remain anonymous. She notes that it would seem that the Nokia 5230 sold insanely well. I took me a few reads to process what she is saying here, but it really is pretty impressive.

As people talk about Nokia’s years after strategy change away from Symbian I have noted one anomaly that nobody seems to point out. I guess I’ll have to mention it: The Nokia 5230.

That phone is the only Symbian smartphone that made it to the “top 10 list of most sold phones ever” . And from the list we know it sold 150 million units. Here’s the problem: Nokia 5230 launched as “recently” as Q4 2009. From what we know it was selling from Q4 2009 to Q4 2011, a period during which Nokia sold 198,4 million smartphones according to their interim reports. If we assume that N9 and first Lumias sold a combined amount of 1,4 million in fourth quarter of 2011, Nokia sold 197 million Symbian phones between Q4 2009 and Q4 2011….of which 150 million are 5230’s!

That’s right, ONE single device called 5230 is responsible of 76% of Nokia’s device sales for period of OVER 2 YEARS! (Or – if we wish to think it other way round – without that single phone model Nokia would have had 76% smaller market share for a time span of 2 years.) Now THAT should be called a hero device!

And since I started my writing by mentioning the strategy change, let’s remember the timing and assume that majority of the sales of Nokia 5230 took place during 2010 when it was not as outdated as it was in 2011. That means Nokia 5230 – one phone model from low end – was responsible of over 80% of Nokia’s unit sales at the time when Nokia Management made decision to switch strategy.

What do you think?

Did you own the 5230? Let us know in the comments below!

Category: MNB Reader Generated, Nokia