Nokia recently launched smart air conditioners in India, shortly after its laptops, smart televisions, and a streaming device.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Nokia might soon launch appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and more.
- Vipul Mehrotra from Nokia Brand Partnerships has confirmed there will be more products.
- In India, Nokia has partnered Flipkart for TVs, ACs, and laptops among others.
After it got out from the clutches of Microsoft, Nokia has been thriving. But its business is no longer tied to a single entity. Nokia diversified its business with different licensees worldwide, giving the brand the recognition it has always hoped to gain back but, at the same time, helping it in dipping its toes into uncharted territories. Everyone knows Nokia phones but what we are seeing today are Nokia smart televisions, Nokia streaming devices, Nokia laptops, and Nokia air conditioners in India. Thanks to HMD Global, which has licensed the phone business, and Flipkart, which has licensed other products in India, Nokia has set out to grow left, right, and centre.
Growing into several directions involves tapping into various product categories. Nokia has already launched the new PureBook X14 laptops, the ACs, smart televisions powered by Android TV, and streaming devices in India covering the main corners of electronics and appliances. But the Finnish company will not stop just there. It is planning to create an ecosystem of products and appliances that will likely serve to all demands of a user. Vipul Mehrotra, head of Nokia Brand Partnerships, said, “Going forward you can expect even more exciting Nokia branded products from both our current and emerging brand licensees. And rest assured that as we enter new product categories with the Nokia brand, we will continue to offer the trusted Nokia branded experiences you’d expect.”
This might mean Nokia will bring products such as vacuum cleaner, electric toothbrush, refrigerator, dishwasher, smart accessories such as smart lights and smart plugs to India soon. Nokia will leverage its brand licensing programme that makes it reach different streams through partners that benefitted along. The biggest and most renowned brand licensee for Nokia is HMD Global that sells a huge portfolio of feature phones, smartphones, and mobile accessories in more than 40 countries. But for other things, Nokia has partners such as Flipkart in India, RichGo in China, and StreamView in the European markets.
Talking about Nokia’s partnership with Flipkart, Mehrotra said, “In India, Flipkart launched the first Nokia branded Android-based Smart TV’s last year followed by media streamers six months ago, and a range of six new Smart TVs unveiled these last two months. In fact, during the recent festive season sales in India, Nokia branded Smart TV’s were among the top five best-selling TV’s at Flipkart, which is a testament to Flipkart’s deep consumer insights and strong execution.”
Now that it has established a name in some product categories, Nokia is set out to explore more in India and other markets. The growing awareness of the brand is playing an important part in Nokia’s new journey. And despite the delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Nokia’s Mehrotra thinks its brand licensees have been “relentless”.
Nokia is placing huge bets on these partners and they are delivering with their expertise of local markets. But even beyond this knowledge, the partners have to make sure they deliver on what customers expect from the Nokia brand. Their products bearing the Nokia logo can sell on the brand’s repute but the quality of these products will define how long these partnerships will survive.
