Nokia looks to improved software to boost U.S. business

Computerworld - When it comes to smartphone and mobile device shipments, Nokia Corp. is the nearly king of the world -- except in the U.S. Now, the Espoo, Finland-based company is in the midst of a long-term push to rectify its problems in this country.

For instance, Nokia is trying to sell more mobile phones and smartphones through U.S. carriers and is seeking ways to make its Symbian operating system software more friendly to American users, said Ira Frimere, product portfolio manager for Nokia North America.

And yesterday, Nokia introduced a new smartphone called Surge -- a move that was significant because it marked the first time the manufacturer had shipped a model without a number in its name. Analysts see that as a subtle move by the engineering-focused Scandinavian company to start using American marketing techniques. The Surge slider device, jointly developed with AT&T Inc., includes a physical QWERTY keyboard, noted Frimere.

"Our strategy is to get as many devices into U.S. carriers as possible," Frimere said in an interview. "We want to be No. 1 in the U.S."

Analysts say that reaching that goal will require some heavy lifting on the company's part, since Symbian and Nokia remain relatively unknown to most American consumers. Nokia's visibility in the U.S. stands in contrast to its status in Europe and Asia, where consumers appear to love the company's technology.

IDC recently forecast that 92 million Symbian OS-based smartphones will ship worldwide during 2009, representing 46% of the market. Those numbers make Nokia the worldwide leader in smartphone sales -- by a wide margin. But in the U.S., Symbian smartphone shipments are only projected to reach just over half a million this year, slightly more than 1% of total smartphone shipments in this country. The Nokia operating system lags far behind Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry software, as well as Windows Mobile, Mac OS X, and Palm (whose numbers now include the WebOS operating system), in the U.S.

Sean Ryan, an IDC analyst, noted that the research firm's forecasts show Symbian losing a bit of market share in coming years as Google Inc.'s Android and other new operating systems join the fray. "It really is a big difference in the way Nokia does in the U.S. compared to abroad," Ryan noted. "Mention Nokia to the average American and nobody has ever heard of it."

Frimere is one of a team of Nokia executives charged with improving the company's smartphone business in the U.S. He compared his own experience as an engineer learning marketing techniques to what Nokia is going through. "I've learned it's not what I like, but what my customer likes," he said. "A smartphone is an extension of your personality."