Although it doesn’t seem to be having an impact on sales yet, Nokia wants to keep its Carl Zeiss partnership intact.
The company confirmed the decision today, saying that if you want a phone with a 41-megapixel camera in it, you should turn to Nokia.
“When joining forces with Nokia in 2005, we wanted to push the boundaries of mobile photography. Looking back at seven years of successful partnership, we are proud of the innovations and outstanding products created in this shared journey,” Carl Zeiss’s Michael Kaschke said in a statement.
The partnership is a distinguishing factor for Nokia, but it doesn’t appear to be having much impact, if any at all, on consumers.
Even though sales haven’t been spectacular, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has said he is pleased with the company’s reinventing of itself and the Lumia line of Windows Phones.
The Lumia 710 instantly pushed Nokia to #1 status in the list of top-selling Windows Phone manufacturers, largely because of its highly accessible price of just $50 after service agreement and mail-in rebate.
Of course, being the top Windows Phone manufacturer is kind of like being the best player in Little League – you’ll still have a tough time competing in the MLB. In other words, Android and iOS are still dominating the market, and Nokia has a long way to go if it wants to legitimately compete in that field.
So far, Nokia has made quite an impression, and there is the possibility that it could almost single-handedly help bring Windows Phone within striking distance of the two larger smartphone OS players. It will need to continue innovating if it wants that to happen.
Or, it could go after the incredibly budget-conscious consumers who want the power of a smartphone but can’t afford the high-end $200+ Android phones or iPhones. If it can truly own that market, it has a shot.
