25 September 2013, 02:04 PM IST
Technically, they are not dead, yet.
Irrespective of whether Microsoft closes the Nokia deal or not, the Nokia brand will continue to survive, at least for another few years. But it is unlikely that we will see a new Nokia-branded phone again after the end of this year.
For BlackBerry, the picture is even better. Even if it is acquired by Fairfax, there is a chance that brand BlackBerry will survive for a while.
But, practically, Nokia and BlackBerry are finished. The BlackBerry and Nokia that you and I knew are gone. They had their glory days. They ruled the market. They sold products that millions used. Those days are gone.
So what killed Nokia and BlackBerry? I am sure books will be written on their demise and they will be held as examples of how empires crumble. But I can tell you in one line where they went wrong:
This is what I tweeted in June 2011. The 'phone mode' killed Nokia and BlackBerry.
When Apple introduced iPhone in 2007, it didn't set out to sell a phone. Nokia and BlackBerry were making fantastic phones. They were unbeatable. So Apple changed the rules of the game. It side-stepped the battle. To take over the world, it didn't create a phone that was also smart, something that BlackBerry, Nokia and even Microsoft were doing. It created a smart device that was also a phone.
The iPhone that Steve Jobs introduced in 2007 was a small and pocketable computer. It was not very powerful. But at its heart, it was a computer. Primarily it was meant to calculate and process data, the way computers do, to carry out tasks. It could run apps, or in other words programs. The fact that it could also connect to cellular network and make calls was just the icing on the cake.
A year later, Android not only followed in the footsteps of iPhone but also expanded on the idea of pocketable computers. It was even more flexible, like modern computers, and allowed a user to do more, the way computers do.
Since then, both Apple and Google have tirelessly worked to make iPhones and Android devices more and more powerful. They have added to what their devices can do. They worked to enable more powerful hardware in iPhones and Androids. Nowadays, a good Android phone or iPhone can handle many of those tasks that earlier required a laptop. You can browse web, edit office documents, edit images or videos, play 3D games and watch FullHD videos on an Android phone.
Recently, when Apple introduced iPhone 5, it said, "The A7 chip in iPhone 5S brings 64-bit desktop-class architecture to a smartphone for the first time."
Think about "desktop-class architecture" that I have highlighted.
Nokia and BlackBerry failed to grasp this. Even years after iPhone was introduced, they were still trying to compete in the market with phones that have smart features. They stood no chance. They required small computers that could make calls.
Nowadays, calling or texting using cellular network is just one of the tasks people do with a phone. In fact, for many, these are very low-priority tasks. For most consumers, more important is how well a smartphone can tackle web browsing. Or how well it can play videos. Or how well it can run games. Or how well it can run apps like WhatsApp and Facebook. The devices sold by Nokia and BlackBerry excelled at making calls. But they were not very good at some of these other things.
BlackBerry realized this, albeit late, and tried to turn its fortunes around with BB10. Unfortunately, by the time BB10 came to the market in 2012, it was already too late for the company.
Nokia, meanwhile, tried to hitch a ride with Microsoft and went all out with Windows Phone. It could have succeeded but I have a theory why it has so far failed.
Microsoft is a company that thrives on the traditional computer market. The small and pocketable computers are a threat to its core market. So even though it developed Windows Phone to take on the iPhones and Androids, its heart has not been there. Windows Phone is utterly gimped and lacks in features. And Microsoft has been excruciatingly slow in updating the OS.
Compared to iOS and Android, Windows Phone still looks like a feature phone operating system. Yes, a feature phone OS that has a beautiful user interface and some smart functionality.
Unless Microsoft significantly overhauls the Windows Phone, it will not find any decent number of buyers in the market.
It is sad to see companies like Nokia and BlackBerry, the alpha dogs in their time, to go like this. Unfortunately, they had not only been complacent in the wake of iPhone, they utterly failed to understand the true nature of the device we called smartphone. They had it coming.
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