Nokia's Chris Weber says there's no 'silver bullet' for Windows Phone success
With Gartner claiming Microsoft nibbled up just 3.3 percent of the smartphone market in Q2 this year, Nokia still has a long way to go to regain its mobile standing. Even with the handful of impressive products unveiled at Nokia World, Chris Weber, EVP of Sales and Marketing, agrees that there's still work to be done.
"I don't think there's a silver bullet," Weber said during an interview yesterday. "It's the portfolio, it's great marketing to make sure people are aware of the capabilities, and it's making sure that the apps are there."
The good news is Nokia now has a full device portfolio -- from the basic Lumia 520 phone up to the full-fledged Lumia 2520 tablet -- thus crossing a range of price points, experiences and form factors. And with big names like Instagram, Vine and Flipboard joining Nokia's own "disruptive" apps, Weber said he's confident in Windows Phone's future.
"The apps that we have, we have to make sure that they're as good as -- and in many cases better than -- what you get on the competitive platform," Weber said. "So you know, improving things like Facebook, bringing the next release of Skype, WhatsApp, et cetera."
Weber added that while the level of partnership differs from one third-party developer to another, in general it entails Nokia providing marketing support and technology assistance. The latter includes helping developers with the platform and API, as well as sharing the best coding practices -- especially to make the same app work across different form factors.
In response to whether he felt Nokia's been doing more work than Microsoft on promoting Windows Phone, Weber only implied that the two companies certainly work together on this.
"We partner with Microsoft and we sort of divide and conquer what apps we go after, which ones they do, which ones we need jointly to work together on that," Weber said. "But I think it's a joint effort in most of the things that you see. And the reality is what's good for the ecosystem is good for Nokia is the way we view it."
