Elop says Nokia to focus on core brand

Nokia is to focus on building its master brand this year, instead of sub-brands such as Ovi and Meego, in order to compete in what it terms the “three horse race” against Android and Apple.

Nokia campaign featuring Pamela Anderson
Nokia campaign featuring Pamela Anderson

Speaking at the Open Mobile Summit today (9 June), Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said services such as Ovi, the company’s mapping system, had “diluted” the core brand and distracted investment away from it.

He said: “We are now going to put muscle behind the brand that matters.”

The Nokia chief added that continuing the MeeGo operating system would be illogical because it would not be able to create devices at scale with appropriate price points for all the territories, including developing markets, that the company serves.

Elop also used the Summit to scupper speculation that Nokia is due to be taken over by Samsung or Microsoft, saying: “All of those rumours are baseless Nokia is not for sale.”

The Nokia CEO also confirmed the first Nokia Windows Phone is due to launch this winter, running the Mango update.

Earlier this year, Elop berated his company saying it had been left behind in the smartphone race because it had “poured gasoline on [its] own burning platform”.

Elop says the company will now cut its deveopment time by a third when it comes to bringing smartphones to the market to ensure it does not repeat its failure to launch a competitor device to Apple’s iPhone when it launched in 2007.

Nokia teamed up with Microsoft in February to use the Windows Phone software as its primary smartphone platform.

Last month Nokia issued a profit warning, saying that second quarter sales and operating margins would be “substantially below” previous predictions.

Read Mark Ritson on how Nokia and other brands should beware the clandestine competitor.

Read Lara O’Reilly on why Nokia may have been better to pick Android over Microsoft.