Okay, maybe a bit of an over-simplification, but Scott Miller has one of the most devastating critiques of Nokia's Management and the effect the N-Gage could have on the Finnish Mobile Phone Company. Grab a coffee, get reading, and see if you agree with him.
N-Gage Will Destroy Nokia?
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Naah, in his talks about branding, Scott sounds like someone who has only read the two first chapters of those strategic marketing books...but he skipped the rest.
Yes, a focussed single-market brand can be an advantage during the early stages of a company's growth. But the natural laws of a competitive market also says that no-one can stay in a dominating position forever, not even Nokia, not even Microsoft. On the contrary, being a one-trick pony will over time increase risk and might in fact make the brand more vulnerable. Therefore, careful diversification can also strengthen the brand, like Sony for instance.
Instead, Nokia should ask itself what its brand really stand for. What brand values? 'User friendliness', 'Fashionable', 'Quality'. Ironically, Sony's brand value is almost the same: 'Quality', 'Fashionable', 'Reliable'. Eerr, I stole these from some research report...
Sure, but those obvious design flaws...nothing to add really.
cheers
Martin