Last week, Guardian reported that Starcomms is bringing IDEOS to Nigeria. We had estimated in May that 180,000 Android devices will be sold in Nigeria this year. And we remain confident. In the same month, we noted that the arrival of IDEOS will help Huawei and the telcos to evaluate how this phone will do in Nigeria just as we noted that the incubation lab that Google is running in South will determine if they will scale it to other African nations. If it succeeds in South Africa, Nigeria will get a turn.
So, with Android IDEOS doing well, where does this put Nokia? It means Google is now a friend and an enemy of Nokia. It is a friend because very soon, Nokia will be making Android phone besides the Windows Mobile and enemy because Google Android is taking customers away from Nokia. We call that Frenemy. Indeed, Nokia could be finished if they lose this battle. Who needs N9,000 cheap Nokia phones when you can buy a smartphone for N15,000 from Huawei.
Tekedia is very confident that the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft on the Mobile OS will not survive three years before Nokia introduces Android phone. The reality is that Android is building a massive market share that it will be hard for Windows to catch up. So, few developers will like to go there and develop.
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This is the bombshell message that must worry Nokia: According to Hauwei CEO, Herman He,
“Since the IDEOS launch five months ago, so far over 60,000 pieces have been sold and we are moving towards the 100,000 piece mark with its share of the local smartphone market at 45% in the first quarter of the year, making it the top selling device with February alone reaching 73%,”