Nokia confirmed, Thursday, that they will no longer offer Symbian devices, after much speculation last year. Last year's handset, the Nokia 808 Pureview, will be the last of its kind. In its recent Q4 2012 earnings report, the company said, "The Nokia 808 PureView, a device which showcases our imaging capabilities and which came to market in mid-2012, was the last Symbian device from Nokia."
With the cell phone market currently being dominated by competitors Apple, Samsung and HTC, Nokia has opted to place focus on providing consumers with cost-effective Windows-based cell phones. "The year-on-year decline in our Smart Devices volumes in the fourth quarter 2012 continued to be driven by the strong momentum of competing smartphone platforms and our portfolio transition from Symbian devices to Lumia devices," said Nokia in its 2012 earnings report.
According to the report, the Symbian OS-based handsets were significantly less in demand than handsets that operate on the Windows OS. Symbian handsets sold were just 2.2 million units, while Windows handset sales were twice that, at 4.4 million units. Gradually over the years, Nokia minimized efforts and costs dedicated to the Symbian platform due to the steady decline of demand. Android handsets accounted for 72% of handset shipments, while Symbian accounted for just 2.6%.
Nokia's CEO, Stephen Elop hinted earlier this month that we could possibly see Nokia releasing Android phones. In recent reports however, Elop appears to remain dedicated to working with Microsoft in an attempt provide consumers with more choices of Windows handsets at lower price points. TechCrunch quoted Elop as saying, "We are clearly innovating with Microsoft around Windows Phone, and are focused on taking that to lower and lower price points. You will see that over time compete with Android."
The user friendly S-40 based Nokia Asha phone, which was highly successful in India, may also be a strategic option for Nokia. "We will continue to innovate around our Asha smartphone line in order to compete with the very lowest levels of Android." says Elop. Since launched in 1998 until 2011, Symbian held the position of being the world's largest smartphone platform until Android began to take over the market.
