At this point, the battle for the top spot in the smartphone world is a two-company race between Apple and Samsung. The race for third, however, is wide open, with HTC, Nokia and BlackBerry all dueling each other. The new Lumia 928 and Catwalk Windows Phones are expected to be revealed soon and boost Nokia, but is it already too late for the company?
Despite the fact that everyone had left BlackBerry and HTC for dead, their new BlackBerry Z10 and HTC One have been launched to surprisingly positive receptions. Nokia, meanwhile, has made some gains with its Lumia line, but it has failed to make a big impression. Now, even before seeing the Lumia 928 and Catwalk, critics are skeptical.
In fact, they're even starting to single out CEO Stephen Elop. At a general shareholder meeting, one investor basically implored Elop to ditch Windows.
"You're a nice guy ... and the leadership team is doing its best, but clearly, it's not enough," one shareholder, Hannu Virtanen, told Elop, according to Reuters. "Are you aware that results are what matter? The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Please switch to another road."
Elop remains committed to Windows, and no doubt he expects the Lumia 928 and Catwalk to prove his doubters wrong, but right now there are a lot of doubters.
Meanwhile, during the fiscal fourth quarter, BlackBerry beat expectations: "the company earned $0.22 per share on revenue of $2.7 billion - topping Street estimates of $0.29 loss," reported Stock Saints. This has caused the stock analysis site Seeking Alpha to actually declare Nokia dead, essentially saying it's more likely the BlackBerry Z10 and other BB10 devices will help BlackBerry to continue to rebound, and to "stick a fork in Nokia."
Certainly, Nokia needs to do more to gain ground with its Windows Phones. Getting on Verizon with the Lumia 928 is a start, but it's not nearly enough. More apps, like Instagram, need to show up in the app store, and Nokia needs to actually differentiate its products from its competitors in compelling ways. Whether the company can do it or not is the question, but if Nokia doesn't, you can expect more changes coming at Elop's firm — starting with him.
