Nokia

Nokia’s migration of smartphone OSs to netbooks

Nokia is planning to release a netbook line based on Symbian, according to reports. The move is certainly a reaction to the Google plans to introduce netbooks based on Android.

The barriers to the use of a smartphone OS as the basis for a computer are less with netbooks because more of the usage is likely to be online, based on hosted applications or simple offline operation, than on general PC applications.

In theory, either Symbian or Android could be used on any hardware platform based on any reasonably flexible chipset. The Nokia move, coming after Google, could be a signal of a major shift in the computing space, something that could make life for Microsoft very difficult even given Windows 7, and something that will put considerable stress on Apple’s plans, particularly ifS teve Jobs does not return to the company later in the year.

Microsoft, whose Mobile version of Windows 7 is also due out next year, is rumored to be harboring netbook aspirations for the new OS as well, and some at Microsoft believe that a strong position in the netbook space, likely to create greater application developer support, would help them with smartphones.

Nokia indicates shift to service market

Nokia’s launch of its touch-screen high-end smartphone was also a bully pulpit for the company to make it clear that their activities with Symbian and smartphones are not the main event, but a shift into the services market.

Nokia noted that Blackberries were not successful because of the handset or the handset OS but because of the service behind them. This is the first time a major mobile equipment player has articulated what we believe is the central truth of 2009 and beyond. The industry is moving to services as operators move to monetization, and those who can create service ecosystems will be successful.

Nokia strategy reflects capex shift

Nokia is launching “Tube,” its newest smartphone today, and is expected to articulate its mobile strategy in greater detail. The company, like others, is addressing what appears to be a capex shift to wireless for 2009, a shift that would increase sales of RF and handsets and reduce that of traditional data equipment, including routers, switches, and optics.

Mobile broadband has less capacity demand than fixed, and while mobile backhaul will be an important application, our research shows it to be shifting more decisively to Carrier Ethernet and also that the total capacity requirements for mobile backhaul are lower than those of enterprise Ethernet services or consumer wireline broadband and video.