Leaked presentation reveals what Nokia thought about the iPhone in 2007
The unveiling of the first-generation iPhone during Macworld 2007 not only confirmed that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was a master salesman but also showed that he could command a room for hours. I urge everyone reading PhoneArena to open the YouTube app, search for Steve Jobs' OG iPhone unveiling, and view Jobs' master class on how to introduce a disruptive new product.
The amazing thing is that Jobs knew exactly what he had in the iPhone. No one, not even the biggest critic of Apple in the world, can deny that the iPhone changed the world. Sure, there were other smartphones around. But without a touchscreen, a sleek UI, multimedia capabilities, and a virtual QWERTY keyboard, other smartphones couldn't make an impression on the world the way the iPhone did.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer laughed when the iPhone was announced
After the release of the iPhone on June 29, 2007, everyone wanted a touchscreen smartphone. The leading smartphone manufacturers at the time, Nokia and BlackBerry, saw their smartphone market shares collapse. Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, laughed after the iPhone's unveiling stating that no one would want to type on glass. Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system was then among the top smartphone platforms used by smartphones and Ballmer was a little too cocky.
A newly revealed 2007 presentation written inside Nokia revealed what the world's top smartphone manufacturer in 2007 thought about this interloper coming out and reinventing the phone. As you might imagine, Nokia pointed out the iPhone's touchscreen UI and ease of use. But Nokia still felt that its own hardware, market reach, and pricing playbook gave it the edge in the global smartphone market.
Nokia believed that the iPhone's virtual QWERTY keyboard and its high pricing would limit the appeal of Apple's handset. Looking inward, Nokia admitted that it had some of its own issues to overcome especially software design and ecosystem integration. Nokia's presentation compared the Nokia N800 internet device to the iPhone and admitted that the iPhone's UI "may change the standards of the superior user experience for the whole market."
After the iPhone was unveiled, Nokia said that it needed to develop a touchscreen phone
The conclusion reached by Nokia was that it needed to develop a touchscreen phone to fight back with. Nokia also felt that it should focus on the S60 operating system based on Symbian. With U.S. carriers desperate to find an iPhone challenger to take on Apple and Cingular (later AT&T), which had a U.S. exclusive on iPhone, Nokia said that it should work very closely with T-Mobile.
It's interesting how the leading smartphone manufacturer at the time felt immediately threatened by the iPhone. The N800 was not a phone and had no support for cellular connectivity as it worked with Wi-Fi signals only. One option Nokia looked at was packaging the N800 with Nokia 3G handsets which would give consumers an outstanding mobile browsing experience while allowing them to take and make calls on the separate 3G handset.
Nokia's response to the iPhone is widely considered to be the 5800 XpressMusic. The device went on sale in October 2008 and by January 2009, over one million units had been shipped. Even pushing a touchscreen phone of its own, Nokia was severely injured by the iPhone forcing the company to hitch its star to Windows Phone. That turned out to be a huge mistake. Microsoft bought Nokia's mobile phone business for $7.2 billion in 2013 dropping the Nokia brand from the smartphone industry. Eventually, the Nokia name was brought back by HMD in a licensing deal.
In its memo, Nokia said several times that the success of the iPhone could "stimulate high-end demand in general, helping everybody to grow volumes in the high price
band." The bottom line: the winner is usually the company that makes a better mousetrap.
band." The bottom line: the winner is usually the company that makes a better mousetrap.
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