Ah, Nokia. The very name itself fills my 00s-kid’s heart with nostalgia about the simpler times, when everyone and their mother had some form of Nokia phone in their pocket, and the company itself absolutely dominated the mobile phone market, boasting a global market share of over 50% in 2007.
Nowadays, few remember the smartphone Ozymandias, and even fewer can say they still own one of their models, with companies like Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi now reigning supreme, holding 19%, 17%, and 14% of the market, respectively. While these percentages are in the same ballpark, it’s Apple’s iPhone that most deserves the title of “Nokia killer,” as the Finnish giant’s decline began shortly after the iPhone’s debut in 2007, with its market share dropping from 50% to just 3% in a record-breaking five years.
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Nokia’s history, however, could have taken a completely different turn, as according to a newly discovered presentation shared on January 10, 2007 – a day after the iPhone’s reveal – at least nine Nokia employees were aware of the potential threat posed by Apple’s smartphone and tried to warn about Apple becoming a serious competitor, meaning that the king of mobile phones had a head start but failed to leverage it and ultimately lost its crown.
First spotted by Fahadx, the presentation was found in the Nokia Design Archive, unveiled earlier this month, and is titled “Apple iPhone was launched (yes, it is ‘iPhone’).” Despite its humorous title, the content itself is dead serious, outlining the best qualities of the then-novel smartphone and correctly predicting a significant market share impact by 2008.
The presentation reveals that what concerned Nokia engineers the most were “the new kid in the block” OS X and the iPhone’s user interface. They noted that the UI “may change the standards of the superior user experience for the whole market,” and recommended the company’s leadership to focus primarily on developing a touch UI to counter the threat.
“User interface has been a big strength for Nokia – consumer research indicates this is in decline,” the presentation reads. “Urgent action needed to prevent further erosion of this position. Appoint Nokia Head of UI i.e. not tied to BG or platform. Nokia needs to develop touch UI to fight back. S60 should be focus, but Maemo platform can be a critical strength due to openness.
The authors also speculated on Apple’s potential position in the handset, smartphone, and mobile platforms markets, correctly predicting that Steve Jobs’ company would become a Top-10 smartphone vendor and mobile platform, placing it just behind Nokia and its Symbian OS in second place – a forecast that, in retrospect, may just be one of the greatest understatements in tech history:
The presentation also features a detailed list outlining the recommended actions Nokia must take to stay on top, including advice such as “prioritize touch UI development,” “analyse what could be Apple’s next release of ‘iPhone mini’ to mass market price points and plan counter-measures for it,” “kill market for such an expensive device by filling mid-range with own/Google/Yahoo experiences,” “investigate and play hard in possible IPR infringements,” and “highlight potential weaknesses of the iPhone,” among others:
We highly encourage you to check out the full presentation here. Don’t forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.