Nokia was expected to develop its own iPhone killers to compete hard with Apple. The company may have failed in that mission so far, but it has found another way to keep Apple busy, Lawsuits. The company has filed lawsuits against Apple in the past. It seems Nokia has no reason to stop with its lawsuits as it keeps Apple on its toes. Who knows, Nokia might win them all too. This time Nokia is claiming that Apple is infringing on 5 of its key patents with Apple iPad 3G. Those patents involve:

• enhanced speech and data transmission
• positioning data in applications
• innovations in antenna configurations

Nokia is essentially suing Apple for almost everything that makes the iPad a hit among consumers. Does Nokia have a case? That doesn’t seem to matter much these days.

Nokia has been the leading developer of many key technologies in mobile devices. We have taken this step to protect the results of our pioneering development and to put an end to continued unlawful use of Nokia’s innovation

At this point, it is not clear whether Nokia actually has a case. At this level, companies use lawsuits for various reasons. But it’s doubtful that Nokia will actually get to stop Apple from shipping its products in the U.S. and and around the globe. Nokia has been a wonderful smartphone company, and it can still continue to be among leaders in this industry. It does need to start innovating again instead of suing competitors left and right. It’ll be hard for Nokia to stop Apple’s momentum with iPad with just lawsuits.

Apple just doesn’t seem to get a break these days. At least when it comes to dealing with companies such as Kodak and Nokia. We already know that Nokia going after Apple’s profits. This time it’s Kodak that is making trouble for Apple and RIM. The company has alleged that Apple and RIM have infringed upon its patents. The International Trade Commission is now investigating both companies, and it could all lead to a sales ban for iPhone in the U.S. While that scenario is not likely at this point, Kodak will push to get royalty for its alleged patent.

If these lawsuits are not bad enough, Apple has to fight hard to keep Google off its turf. In another provocative move, Google has acquired and discontinued one of the best e-mail applications available for iPhone, depriving the iPhone nation from taking advantage of one of the better apps on the market. This war between Google and Apple is going to get even more nasty, but Google is being unusually evil with its approach against the iPhone.

Microsoft can play this game as well. We have already seen Microsoft’s latest mobile platform. But don’t expect Microsoft to play nice with Google and Apple. The company has waited too long to release an exciting Windows Upgrade. All that work wasn’t to get the third place in the mobile platform wars. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft made some acquisitions of its own.

Apple is going to take some hits with its iPad as well. You can be sure that there will be lawsuits, more than we have seen so far. And unlike the iPhone, iPad is being taken seriously by Apple’s competitors. HP and other tablet makers are going to go after Apple iPad aggressively. Let’s not forget Amazon is building its answer to the iPad as well. Things may look a bit uncertain for Apple right now, but the company has passed all kinds of tests in the past. There is no reason it can’t do it again.

There is a difference between being at the top and being considered at the top by most people. You’d be surprised what companies get away with marketing and colorful promotions these days. Apple has been very successful with its mobile phone, but Nokia has been the king of smart-phones for a while. Apple has just been playing from behind (though coming strong). The company has finally pulled off what can be considered a mild upset by surpassing Nokia as the most profitable mobile company in the world. Apple has generated $1.6b in profits in comparison to $1.1b profits for Nokia.

Nokia is still the king of smart-phones. But the company is bleeding badly, and it needs to find a way to reverse its fortunes if it wants to keep its status in the mobile market. Nokia phones are not terrible. The company just doesn’t seem to be able to put together a strong effort against the ecosystem that Apple has built around the iPhone. With Apple expected to grow even further in the near future, Nokia has its work cut out for it. 

Nokia may have failed with its attempt to put the iPhone in its place with N95 and all its other supposed “iPhone killers.” But it is not going to give up without a major fight with Apple:

A successful fight on Apple’s high-profit home turf can simultaneously help to revitalize Nokia’s margins and help put a check on Apple’s surging growth

Nokia has also sued Apple recently, so it might be able to get Apple to pay up if the suit is successful. One can argue that at the end of the day none of these issues matter. While Apple is growing its number of iPhone apps, Nokia keeps coming up with shiny smart-phones that fail to effectively challenge Apple’s products. The trend is simply not favorable for Nokia. But things can change quickly these days. Maybe Android can help Nokia reverse this trend.

We have all heard it before: how no phone on the market can even get close to challenging iPhone in the smart phone market. iPhone is more than just a piece of hardware. The platform that Apple has built around it and the power of the community behind it has made iPhone a tough nut to crack for Palm, Nokia, and other companies that have tried to “kill iPhone.” The problem that many of these iPhone challengers have had is they do not come up with many original, game changing ideas. That makes it extremely difficult to compete against iPhone. Add to that the fact that you are not competing just against the hardware, and you’ve got a mountain to climb. A very steep one.

Google may be the only company that is capable of coming up with a game changing solution for the mobile market, but it is not interested in developing its own phone. Microsoft has been rumored to be interested in taking another shot at Apple, but Microsoft is a follower and not such a good innovator these days. Palm Pre is certainly a capable phone and a worthy challenger, but it falls short as it does not pull everything together as well as iPhone does. So is there any hope for these companies to kill the iPhone?

There is hope, and that hope comes from a partnership that has been the only Achilles’ heel for Apple iPhone. I have always believed that the exclusive partnership with AT&T was a good short-term idea, but not working with other carriers has kept iPhone back a bit. It’s not as if AT&T provides an out-of-this-world service to its customers. And everyday we hear about yet another problem with AT&T service. AT&T has tried to make the iPhone even more tempting by lowering its wireless service prices and make it easier for folks to upgrade to iPhone, but painful shortcomings still remain. Apple may be dedicated to keep innovating, but as long as AT&T is the one and only carrier (in the U.S.), iPhone challengers can dream. It still won’t be easy to topple iPhone.

Nokia has always been among one of the most innovative companies around the world. If you think about it, they have some of the best smart-phones ever made. N95 was certainly a great try, and the soon to be released N97 is another step by Nokia to dethrone the mighty iPhone in the smart phone market. Nokia and Apple may be competitors, but it’s good to see Nokia understand the contributions that Apple has made to the mobile industry:

It’s still disappointing to see Nokia become a market follower instead of a market leader. It has yet to connect with the U.S. audience, and its iPhone killers have not quite got the job done. The problem is a lot of these companies try to compete with iPhone as a device and not a platform. Let’s not forget that imitation does not count as innovation either. Nokia is a great company, and it will continue to contribute to mobile industry with its products and services. But I just don’t see them wrestling the U.S. market away from Apple. The question is whether Nokia can slow down the global growth of iPhone.

Anybody who’s been following the evolution of iPhone from the first generation to the 3G is familiar with Nokia’s struggles to dethrone the mighty phone. Nokia is one of the most innovative companies in the world. It’s just that they don’t seem to be able to out-innovate Apple. Nokia 5800 XpressMusic was Nokia’s latest attempt to put pressure on Apple, but it seems the device is already in trouble after 3G connection failures in the U.S. Nokia phones are extremely popular in Europe, but the U.S. market has been somewhat challenging, and the latest problems with Nokia 5800 is another bad break for Nokia.

I am sure Nokia will do its best to fix the issues and return the phone back to the market. The problem is the phone’s reputation is tarnished at this point. Would you pay $400+ for a phone which may not give you the best 3G experience? Whatever the case, we can bet Nokia will be back with other “iPhone killers.”

I don’t know about you but I have a soft spot for Nokias. As the guy in Transformers said, you’ve got to respect the Japanese. On a serious note, I do believe that Nokia makes outstanding phones that always fall a tad bit short to kill the ones made by Apple. Nokia has been trying and failing at this for months now. N95 and the future upgrades on it were all meant to bring the end of iPhone, but folks just don’t find Nokia phones good enough as package for them to put down their shiny phones.

PC World is now reporting that N97 will be the latest phone made to try to wrestle away the momentum from the iPhone. If I remember correctly, N95 came with super GPS, a super camera and bunch of other features that the iPhone didn’t have, but it still didn’t manage to beat out its shiny rival. The new phone is even more formidable. It’s practically a camcorder now, and it comes with its own MobileMe-like service.  Oh and it’s a touchscreen phone.

I am going to go on a limb and declare iPhone the winner between the two phones if they go head to head. Not because Nokia N97 is actually inferior to the iPhone. Not even close. I find N97 attractive in many areas, but when it comes to selling phones, Apple has struck gold and it would take something out of this world to challenge the iPhone in the consumer market.

For long Nokia was considered one of the most innovative companies in the world. In fact, it still is. But what’s been shocking is how they are falling from the grace in the mobile phone industry. Apple and RIMM has upped the challenge in Nokia’s market, and Nokia has failed to come up with a proper response. Now the numbers are showing that Nokia’s share in its market are going down. Nokia claims that it will have the recipe to achieve success. But with Apple pushing for that No. 1 spot in that market, I am not sure what Nokia can do to stifle the upcoming opponents.

N95 was a niche phone and was an iPhone killer, according to Nokia. But everybody knows the iPhone around the world, but N95 is famous only parts of this world. What N95 failed to do was to give folks the impression that it was a better phone than the iPhone. And I am afraid they will have a heck of a time achieving that for their new phones. I guess we will have to see if Nokia has any last minute tricks up its sleeves.

InformationWeek had a great post on how Nokia doesn’t respect Apple and it’s position in the U.S. market. Nokia has lost its market share in the U.S. market. Worse, their so called “iPhone Killers” keep getting killed by the iPhone. First it was N95. Now there is a touch screen Nokia phone that is supposed to once and for all rid the earth from iPhone. Nokia is either in denial or believes dissing iPhone can help them regain market share. One thing is for sure though. Nokia has realized that if you can’t keep up in the game of innovation, just imitate mindlessly. I mean Nokia’s iPhone clone is as innovative as the real iPhone, so why shouldn’t people buy it? Wake up people!