Nokia: No need to plan B, Lumia will succeed!

Vipul Mehrotra as Director of Nokia, responsible for the company's smart devices in India. Before coming to India last year, he had spent four years working on the strategy for the future of Nokia in Helsinki, Finland. He is also the person who led the negotiations with Microsoft before the company decided to focus on Windows Phone.

timesofindia site have been made interview with him about Nokia Lumia, here is a number of strategies as well as his vision for the Nokia Lumia line.

Nokia was considered infallible. What went wrong?

I don't think there was anything wrong. We were doing great with Symbian. It was an open platform and we had lots of traction with consumers and developers across the world. But then industry changed (after 2007, when iPhone was launched). The operating software became more of an enabler instead of being a differentiating factor. And then even as the industry was changing, we had a leadership change (Steven Elop, the current CEO replaced Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo in September 2010). These are two, let's say, discontinuities, that affected us.

Nowadays, even Nokia loyalists doubt the abilities of the company to come with great products. How do you plan to capture the mindshare?
First of all, past is past. The focus is on the future now. The buzz is already back. The Asha series is a great success. We are coming back, step by step! The earlier Lumia phones were one step. Asha phones are other. PureView 808 was received very well. We are happy with the response Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 are getting.

Why did Nokia select Windows Phone over Android, which is more popular, and Meego, which you were developing in-house?
In 2010 we embarked on a study to objectively and carefully weigh which was the best solution for us. Elop personally oversaw the team that worked on this project. We liked Microsoft because they are very good with software and they have a vision for smartphone, tablets and computers that is very compelling. Yes, Microsoft told us what they plan to intend with Windows Phone 8 and we liked what we saw.

Meego required huge investment in terms of resources and time. We could have done it but going with Microsoft was the better option. By not focussing on the OS, we can work on the ecosystem where we can leverage our strength in design, maps and music etc.

As far as Android is concerned, we decided against it because Nokia has been a leader and we want to lead. We cannot be one of the many companies making Android phones.

The first Lumia phones didn't set the market on fire. What is the Plan B if new Lumia phones fail?
We are very sure of the success of new Lumia phones. As for the Plan B, there is none. But what I can tell you at the moment is that we are committed to Windows Phone and we have many more exciting devices in pipeline. These two are just the beginning.

How do you plan to compete with cheap Android phones that sell for less than Rs 10,000?
I will not call many of these cheap Android phones smartphones. They are half-baked smartphones. But Asha phones, which are very affordable, give a full smartphone experience. We believe Asha phones can compete with low-end android devices.

Samsung, which moves very fast as far as new devices are concerned, is also making Windows phones. How will you compete with it?
We heartily welcome Samsung to the Windows Phone ecosystem and we hope that they get serious about it. It is good for the ecosystem. That said, we are number one in the ecosystem and we are going to keep it like this. As for the pace, we are now different. I can promise that with our expertise in design — just see how beautiful Lumia phones are — soon other companies will have to catch us.