Nokia to disappear in 2012?

By George Ponder
published

Remember about a little over a year ago it was predicted that T-Mobile would disappear? Well the same group that predicted TMo's fate is now predicting that Nokia could close its doors in 2012.

24/7 Wall Street is predicting Nokia, along with other notables as Sony Ericsson, Sears, Saab and Kellogg's Corn Pops could disappear in 2012. Quoting from their reasoning behind predicting the demise of Nokia the articles states,

"Nokia is dead. Shareholders are just waiting for an undertaker. The world’s largest handset company has one asset: Nokia sold 25% of the global total of 428 million units sold in the first quarter. Its problem is that in the industry, the company is viewed as a falling knife."

24/7 does recognize that Nokia is in the process of changing over to "Microsoft Window mobile OS" but doesn't see that as helping because "Window mobile" has a tiny share of the market. The most likely scenario is that Nokia will be purchased potentially by HTC, Samsung or LG Electronics. The possibility of Microsoft buying Nokia is also mentioned.

We're not sure how much stock to put into these predictions of fate. In 2011 the list of companies predicted to fail included Blockbuster, Zales, RadioShack, Reader's Digest, and Thrift Auto Rental. Last I checked, along with T-Mobile, all of these companies are still around. We see Nokia as a strong contender in the smartphone market and that their partnership with Microsoft and Windows Phone will be a positive for the company.

I guess only time will tell which prediction is right.

source: 24/7 Wall Street (opens in new tab) Thanks goes out to the Doctor for tipping us on this!

George Ponder
George Ponder

George is the Reviews Editor at Windows Central, concentrating on Windows 10 PC and Mobile apps. He's been a supporter of the platform since the days of Windows CE and uses his current Windows 10 Mobile phone daily to keep up with life and enjoy a game during down time.

21 Comments
  • I want to quote Anton Ego in Ratatouille for all the "analysts" out there.
    "In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."
  • Perfect response dj0502
  • Very well put! It's easy to make speculations without accountability. If you're wrong, no one remembers. If you're right, you take all the credit!
  • Hey guys, let's just predict everything will fail in 2012!
    The validity of these fools' ideas is incredibly low.
  • They called it Windows Mobile - therefore I immediately discredit whatever they've got to say, they obviously either have a vested interest which causes them to WANT it to disappear OR they simply don't know what they're talking about. If you want to make a prediction about Windows Phone, at least call it by it's proper name!
  • I was thinking the same. I disregard any opinion on Windows Phone by people who call it Windows Mobile.
  • If Nokia went all in on Windows Mobile yes they would be failing  as it is Windows Phone  is alive and well and  poised for great things albeit perhaps much slower than we would like.  But Nokia is definitely on the right track and according to a report a couple of days ago facebook usage on WP devices appears to be up over 600K in the last few weeks that brought us 2nd gen devices.
  • A a professional critic (in my case food, not stocks) I had a chuckle at dj0502's quote but I am not sure it applies here. This isn't criticism but speculation. And fairly uneducated speculation at that. The salient quote is at the beginning of the article: "Shareholders are just waiting for an undertaker" The article has reduced Nokia to simple financial numbers that convey a reality today but completely discount the potential of the brand. It is true that Nokia's marketshare is declining and that they are in a period of transition with regards to the OS they run on their handsets. But the same thing could have been said of Apple when Jobs re-took the reigns in the 1990's and cut down the number of computer models from many to only four.  The analyst completely discounts the innovations that are coming from Nokia such as Drive and the Lumia series of phones and perhaps more importantly the extremely positive brand image Nokia enjoys, especially amongst the younger users. And let's not forget that Microsoft will likely be there to further support them. In MS's eyes WP7 is too big to fail at this point, I can see them doubling down of Nokia. Betting on past performance has its value of course, especially when a company does not evolve, but I think that Nokia has made some significant changes. I wish they had some handsets in the US.
  • Good reply, there. Take note though that the article discounts Nokia Drive and the Lumia phones because the article was published June 22, 2011. The whole thing is ridiculous and WPCentral shouldn't have posted this garbage to begin with.
  • I don't know why you even bother posting that.
    first, tmobile is still around, so they got that one wrong. and being bought out by another company (if that deal goes thru) doesn't equal the company being dead.
    Some people just don't realize what Nokia is and where it came from. That company has been around for a long time, way longer than mobile phones have. There not some small hardware company who tried to play with the big guys and failed, they're the biggest guy. and while here in the US people don't give them any credit, everywhere else in the world, the Nokia brand is looked at differently.
    This predicition is just as ridiculous as the one about windows phone surpassing android by 2015. even the prediction about a 20% share by 2015 is a big stretch.
    analysts have to justify their existence, so they make stuff up, real news sources know this and don't mention it outside the finance section, I guess bloggers still have to learn
  • it's news in that, an analyst put out a "report", not that the report is right or credible, but occasionally poking fun at these thing imo is ok,
     
    it's just like reporting a bear throwing a branch around because he fell off of it isn't really important to most of us, but nevertheless interesting to see
  • Of course its going to disappear, what isn't? The whole world is going to end in 2012.. n__n
  • hahahaha funny stuff...
  • end of the world in 2012 ANY WAYS... so who cares... ROLF
  • Um this article was written in June...  
  • THANK YOU!
  • Seems to me that all these types of predictions are good for is to negatively impact the stock price of the targeted company. These guys are like the evil Hags from back in the dark ages who walked around putting a hex on anyone they didn't like. In my mind at least, 24/7 Wall Street is the company that should be viewed as a falling knife. They won't get away with this behavior for long; sooner or later they will impact the wrong group's investment in the wrong way and they'll get ruined. Messing with people's investments is serious business. Apparently 24/7 Wall Street is milking the hex business for now.
  • Around here, Blockbuster died, sold off all their stores, and only have a few last-ditch effort boxes (kiosks) around that use horrible disc caddies that scratch the discs and charge more than the Redbox kiosks that are cheaper and easier to find.  So, yeah, Blockbuster died in the last year, as far as I can tell.
  • Come on, WPCentral. You are making a "headline" out of something that was published FIVE MONTHS AGO.
      That article was published June 22, 2011. It's old, the writer doesn't even use the correct terms (he writes "the Microsoft Windows mobile OS" instead of saying Windows Phone), and the website doesn't exactly scream "Financial Times" if you know what I mean.   I have not read a single reputable analyst make such an outrageous prediction that Nokia will die in 2012. It is flat out stupid to make such a prediction. Even if Nokia didn't go with Windows Phone, they wouldn't exactly "die" in 2012.
  • Pure and Simple   BS!!!!!
  • I put this in the same bin as the guy who predicted the end of the world this year! lol Good job buddy, now have a cookie!