Actually, I should really say it has always been the fashion to knock Symbian. When I first started writing about Symbian it stood no chance against Palm. Later it was going to be swept aside by Windows Mobile. Neither happened, so are the pontifications of today’s critics any different? And what on earth does it have to do with a vet and a car dealer?
OK the vet first. My vet knows I have something to do with mobile phones, so whenever he gets a new phone he usually tells me on one of my regular visits. He's one of those people who goes through phones at a hectic pace, generally due to a close encounter with a hard surface or consignment to a watery grave. Now he has is first touch screen phone. It does everything he wants in a phone and more. Skype came up in the conversation, as did the phone’s navigation capabilities as well as the speed and quality of the camera. Which is where it got interesting, his wife owns an iPhone and recently purchased a dedicated digital camera, neither (they both agreed) were as good as my vet’s new phone: a Nokia X6.
And then there was a car dealer. While collecting my car after its annual service we got talking. Many of the vehicles he sells come wired for iPhone/iPod. He mentioned that he was thinking about getting an iPhone. I asked if he had considered a Nokia smartphone, to be greeted by the comment 'Nokia don't do smartphones do they'. You can probably guess the content of the next part of the conversation, which elicited more than a few 'I didn’t know that's.
I grant you, not exactly a comprehensive survey of phone buyers, just two chance conversations a few days apart. However, I think they say much about the challenges facing Nokia and Symbian.
Nokia builds Symbian based smartphones that thrill and please their users as much as any iPhone or Android device, despite the column inches dedicated to an alternative manifesto. At the same time, Nokia is perceived as a phone manufacturer and not a technology leader nor the fashionable choice for those wanting to make a tech savvy statement.
The danger in the current situation is that Nokia and, as its biggest supporter, Symbian loose their way, not because of weak technology but because they become reactive and driven by their detractors. A leader who allows themselves to be driven by a threat communicated by outsiders, is not likely to be a leader for long.
Nokia should not waste its time trying to answer its detractors, as they will always be there, rather it should concentrate on building on success and communicating that success loud and clear.