The conventional wisdom about Nokia is decidedly downbeat. Wall Street analysts say the Finnish handset maker is in for unimpressive profits as it loses share in the lucrative market for smartphones. Credit Suisse is the latest bank to turn sour on Nokia shares, downgrading them to underperform from outperform on Sept. 1 and predicting that the company will have trouble fending off competition from Apple’s iPhone, BlackBerry handsets from Research in Motion, and phones using Google’s Android operating system.
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Nokia did its level best to counter the conventional wisdom during its annual Nokia World extravaganza in Stuttgart, Germany, on Sept. 2-3. There, as Nokia promoted new products and services, the mood was far less somber than at industry events a few months earlier.
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Some analysts came away persuaded that Nokia has regrouped and is poised to use its formidable distribution power to forge into new businesses such as mobile banking and netbook PCs. The company has spent several years absorbing a host of acquired companies in fields such as mobile navigation and music. Now, Nokia could be regaining its stride, says Carolina Milanesi, wireless industry analyst at market watcher Gartner. All these disjointed pieces are coming together, Milanesi says.
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No Fan on Nokia’s Netbook
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Much of the chatter among developers, business partners, analysts, and journalists at Nokia World focused on Nokia’s new Booklet 3G mini-laptop. Nokia had announced its first mobile PC on Aug. 24, but it disclosed more details in Stuttgart. Nokia watchers immediately wanted to know what would distinguish the $800 device in the crowded netbook market, especially since Apple is expected to launch its own competitor next year. Many netbooks now on the market cost hundreds of dollars less.
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The answer boils down to battery life and software, says John Hwang, a former Yahoo! executive who led Nokia’s crash effort to develop…