Microsoft-Nokia Partnership. What To Do?

Interesting piece from Brian X Chen of Wired on what Microsoft and Nokia may need to do now. Nobody said a marketing collaboration of this scale was going to be easy. Chen points out the need to Ship Fast, Differentiate, Cultivate Developers, Fire at low end & high ends of the market, Avoid alienating partners and Fragmentation. All good points by Chen.

But interesting that typical of Wired and techies everywhere the focus of the article is on engineering, platforms and products. I think the biggest to do straight away is fir Nokia and Microsoft to clarify the Objectives of the alliance and work on the cultural fit. Google & Apple will happily keep an eye out for ‘two turkeys don’t makevan eagle’. Everything else will fall out correctly if the right foundations are built. By rushing into outputs quickly the danger is misfiring, misdirection and upsetting internal players & customers. Its not easy and obviously they need momentum and early wins too. What to do? A lot to do.

For more information, see Benchstone Marketing Limited

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab

Author: Andrew Armour

Andrew Armour is a marketing and media professional, a specialist in business partnerships and the Founder of the consulting business - Benchstone Limited. His career spans from the UK music industry to the America's Cup, from winning agency pitches to securing key digital content deals. He is married to Viv, lives in Hampshire and works in London. View all posts by Andrew Armour