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The difference between Google and Nokia

December 14th, 2009 · View Comments · marketing, mobile

While this is hardly a definitive view, I think it’s an excellent example which highlights a key difference  in how Nokia and Google have gone to market with very similar ideas.

Ovi Prime Place and Google’s Favorite Places both seek to link physical businesses with mobile maps.  The main difference and it’s likely to be critical here is that Google has proactively seeded 100K businesses with QR code stickers and listings while The Nokia Ovi team has decided to leave the map blank and invited businesses in to create their listings …   without any marketing.

Which do you think will grow more quickly and succeed?

Tags: ····

  • Speaking for the place where i live, internet and cellular phones are still very far from each other, so the comparison is irrelevant.
  • GrahamCobb
    Grow more quickly: Google, to start with

    Grow further and succeed: maybe Nokia

    100K is tiny compared with the 4.5Bn mobile phone users in the world -- and Nokia has the largest market share of those phones! How many of those 100K stickers are outside the US? Only one of the world's 10 largest metropolitan areas is in the US (http://www.mongabay.com/igapo/cities.htm).

    Maybe Nokia is playing the long game and aiming to get Mumbai, Jakarta, Shanghai, etc. Maybe they are not too bothered if Google win in the short term, in North America. Maybe that is the key difference between the go-to-market strategies of Google and Nokia.

    I certainly don't know if Nokia can pull it off. But I do know that seeding with 100K will not make much difference to the 4Bn phone users outside those countries.
  • I'm not suggesting this is the end state of this business but clearly Google's opt out approach (like the search spider) is very powerful in comparison to first having to sell the benefits as in the Nokia way.
  • So discouraging to read that Nokia is willing to let Google take the lead in mobile map seeding...
  • It's Google's lead to lose ... enabling maps for all devices was a huge play and has led to massive adoption.
  • Ok, rephrase: "So discouraging to read that Nokia is willing to let Google KEEP the lead in mobile map seeding..."
  • exactly. sad but true
  • Name
    Google will win. As it will not leave it products in between as Nokia did with OVI services.
    OVI Share - is anyone working over there
    OVI contacts - Never sync with this. As you may lose your contacts and none of the support ppl will reply you, even after months.
    Contacts on OVI(OVI Chat) - They are updating this application and leaving the compatibility with of old phone, they have just left the S60 3.1 devices. Now there is no option to download Contacts On OVI for S60 3.1 devices anywhere.
    OVI Store - Big fail
  • Google is already winning by enabling their services on ALL platforms.
  • I'm more interested to know why Nokia took that decision. It's ineffective to say the list
  • Ineffective is an understatement. they are essentially conceding the space
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