I ventured into the wonderful world of Mobile Phones in 1998 when my mentor and friend helped me get a job interview with Motorola. It went great and I was shortlisted for the final selection. Motorola was the shining star of the mobile world at that stage with “Startek Flip Phone”, a raging hero. People would queue up for the new versions of the beautifully crafted device; I did not get that job then but looking back it still sends a chill down my spine imagining the sharp rise and fall of those inspirational and aspirational “Mobile Brands” within a decade. I ended up working for another great company, Siemens Mobile but we were always the second-tier brand in the addressed category. The market leaders during the late ’90s were Ericsson, Nokia and then followed by Motorola. Following were the traits of a great device:
1. Small Size (Ericsson was a master of this craft)
2. Friendly Menu (Nokia) / Ericsson Mobiles had the worst user experience
3. Common Charging Pin (Nokia)
4. Design (Nokia and Motorola)
5. Samsung (Color Display Technology)
Those who were around the days of plenty would remember Sony, LG, Panasonic, Alcatel, Sharp, Siemens, Sagem, BenQ to name a few. These Brands were targeted towards certain markets and were considered Tier 2 Brands.
Somehow some of these companies lost touch with the consumers and had to merge in order to survive and others just disappeared altogether. Sony-Ericsson and BenQ-Siemens were a result of two mergers while Alcatel, Sagem, Panasonic etc just wrapped up the business. BenQ-Siemens couldn’t survive a year of Business primarily due to the clash of Taiwanese and German cultures and Sony ended up taking over the Sony-Ericsson venture. No one really bothered about the fact that the first colour display, as well as the slider phone, was invented by Siemens and the great R&D culture of the organization ended up spreading over competing brands.
Motorola became a victim of its own success after the launch of its RAZR series of products and during its peak in 2006 had a 29% global market share breathing down Nokia’s neck at a close 32%. Motorola lost this share in mere 2 years and ended up disappearing from the competing arena altogether. The company just couldn’t design anything away from the RAZR form factor.
A new phenomenon of stand-alone MP3 players started creeping in the market and suddenly Apple made an appearance with the iPod, a bit later they added a radio to the iPod and called it an iPhone. This was still a niche and people did not pay attention to it as a major game-changer.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BUSINESS HOUSES DEALING PRIMARILY IN MOBILE DEVICES
Brands started disappearing and margins got really thin. Rather than 25, there were just a handful of brands left to Trade. Many companies went out of business and others diversified and then something magical happened……
Symbian became the name of the game followed by Blackberry, Google, Windows and iOS. Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Motorola and a few other manufacturers made a wild bet on Symbian and lost out badly eventually sacrificing the companies altogether. The giants of yesterday were a discussion of a past and no other industry saw the rise and fall of brands as did the Mobiles closely followed by IT Hardware.
It was thus among Blackberry, iOS, Android and Windows did the game remained. The World of Mobile suddenly became flat and there were no discussions on design or menu but rather on the operating systems. Blackberry did great for a few years and then imploded with a feeling of self-righteousness as if everything they did was good for humanity and nothing could ever replace their business users. The BBM messaging platform also became a hit among the younger audience and now there was a blackberry for everyone. RIM, the parent company of blackberry somehow forgot about the growing importance of apps and the changing mindset of a consumer that was shifting towards the touch screen device. All their touch screen phones were a disaster eventually bringing the whole company face down.
In the meantime, Windows bought a Nokia mobile and screwed up the brand and is still licking its wounds, quite an expensive wound that is.
The Game rests with iOS and Android now. Apple is trying its best to convince the world that the iPhone 6S is somehow different from its predecessor and Android stands laughing at every other Mobility Brand may it be Samsung, LG, HTC, Sony, Huawei and a few dozen white labels who are at its mercy. Android (Google) has been able to achieve the Microsoft Windows stunt on the Mobility Brands and slowly and steadily these brands are withering off. No matter which Android Mobile Brand you buy, it provides the same functionality and performance and the only difference being processor speed, camera and size of the display. Even Blackberry has announced an Android Device, it's like having Apple announcing a Windows device in a couple of years….Scary Stuff.
WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE BUSINESS HOUSES DEALING PRIMARILY IN MOBILE DEVICES
Brands have shrunk further and margins have catastrophically eroded forcing more and more businesses to close down. Mobile Phones had become a commodity quite a few years ago and the companies that failed to realize the changing trends kept losing and fading like the Mobile brands.
This is another turning point in the history of this technology where a few more brands would meet their logical end in the next year or so. The Industry would shrink more driving people out of business. This is now a war between iOS supporting only 1 device i.e. iPhone 550–750$ price range and Android with a multitude of devices ranging from 30$ to 700$. Its any body’s guess as to what the world would see in a time not too far from today. Either Apple has to open the iOS to the general set of Manufacturers or would shrink to nothingness as there is an extent to which you can play with a flat-screen device. Consumers also have a short memory span as explained above and would not bother to see another Nokia washed by the sands of time.
CONCLUSION FOR THE TRADER
Diversification in the Mobile Software Ecosystem is the answer to any Organization depending completely on Mobile Handsets. It's not about the Body but the Soul of the Device now. Marketing activities, promotions, dealer programs have to revolve around Apps. Network Operators in terms of data services, dealers and retailers have to jointly provide a winning proposition to the end-user in order to win their trust and to retain them. Failing to move in this direction would see a correction in the market that would have irreversible consequences.
Today we are not really bothered about the brand of toothpaste, shampoo, soap etc that we use and unless the Mobile Industry including the Trader realizes this fact, we would be picking up a mobile device soon from a shelf in a supermarket stacked right next to cooking oil.
The author can be contacted at masomo@eim.ae
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
