Can Nokia survive with Lumia Series?

Innovation and agility at both ends of the handset market: does this signal that Nokia is getting its act back together? Or do the achievements pale against the goings on in Apple, Samsung and local manufacturers in emerging economies?

For a moment, ignore Lumias' specifications (they don't read half bad). Don't compare them with other Windows Mango devices. Consider what it means for the company. From idea to the store shelf - the Lumia journey is a quick turnaround from handset industry standards. Benchmark it to the old Nokia, it looks like a sprint.

But the real mad dash was the slew of dual SIM phones. More than two years late into India and other emerging economies, the company has announced seven such phones since June. And though late, Nokia came good. It loaded the dual SIM phones with features: Ovi services and specific innovations. The result: it shipped over 18 million such phones since their launch.

Elop is already gushing. In a media interaction in September he claimed that the success of dual SIM phones had a "halo effect on our single-SIM phones. India has shown that brand plus team plus great execution can deliver strong results".

Nokia, which uses Symbian in its high-end smartphones, has struggled to make headway against Apple's iPhone and Android-powered phones in this highly lucrative segment. Earlier this year its CEO, Stephen Elop, described Symbian as burning platform and decided to join hands with Microsoft for the company's software needs.

Lumia 800, a handset that the firm is currently shipping to retailers in India, is Nokia's first smartphone running on Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. Microsoft too is struggling against iPhone and Android but hopes with the reach and channel of companies like Nokia it will be able to improve the situation by the end of 2012.

ccording to IDC, Android saw a growth of 90% over the previous quarter. Apple iOS consolidated further, with a 3.09% share of the smartphone market, compared to 2.6% in Q2 2011. IDC said that overall Indian mobile phone market grew by 12% in units shipped, over the previous quarter, to clock 47.07 million units. Year-on-year, there was a shipment growth of 13.8%.