Nokia was global leader in mobile phone industry in terms of unit sales for over a decade from 1998 to 2012. However, since 2012 the top spot has been taken over by Samsung. One reason for relatively low demand of Nokia phones could be that they do not use Android operating system which is quite popular among consumers. In Pakistan, Nokia’s sales may have additionally suffered in recent years due to hike in fame of local brand Q mobile. However, Nokia is trying to regain lost ground with its Lumia series. It officially launched its Lumia 1520 and Lumia 1320 in Pakistan in February to boost its sales in the country.
Nokia is still considered as a reliable brand as even its basic phones have good resale value. The hardware and software in Nokia’s phones is so durable that even its older models are still being sold on popular classified ad sites like Bolee.com or OLX. Nokia may have lagged a little behind in the race of smartphones but this does not mean that Nokia has completely lost to others. When looked in terms of all mobile phones and not just smartphones, Nokia still is the second largest vendor in terms of unit sold worldwide.
Although it is behind Samsung, Nokia’s market share is twice that of Apple. Nokia has been trying to further its position in smartphone market with its Lumia series. Its latest model in the series is Lumia 1520 which has a 2.2 GHz quad core CPU. Advanced processor like this one brings Nokia near the front of the technology race. Inclusion of this processor is also significant in the sense that previously Nokia seems to have neglected the processor. For example, its previous version Lumia 1020 launched as recent as July 2013 only had dual core 1.5 GHz CPU.
A critical feature of recent models in Lumia series is camera. Lumia 1520 has 20 MP camera which is more technically sophisticated than that of Samsung’s recent model Galaxy Note 3 since the camera in Note 3 is 13 MP. Nokia had placed even heavier emphasis on camera in the earlier version of the series Lumia 1020 which had 41 MP camera. In Lumia 1520, Nokia seems to be shifting the focus away from camera and towards processor. This move may be very much appreciated by customers who love fast processors. As Lumia series uses Windows Phone operating system it is compatible with other products from Microsoft. Lumia 1520 has a built-in Microsoft Office so users can easily view or edit files in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. All in all, with Lumia series Nokia is trying to step up its image in smartphone industry by including good processors and other technological features. It may experience an increase in sales as a result of these features.
