Nokia's path -- based on Symbian, relatively slow innovation and a focus on low-margin emerging markets -- has not benefitted the company much. Yet, it still has some valuable assets. The firm may no longer have any 'hot' products, but the Nokia name is still respected. In addition, the company still has some financial health as well. That said, Nokia is struggling to find its way in the smartphone market. It feels that its product is competitive, but either they are wrong about the product or they have horrible marketing because Symbian is nowhere to be found. Its focus on India and other low-margin markets has it struggling with pretax margins, while industry leaders Apple, RIM and HTC have robust margins. Nokia's way forward is to either make up...

or, Nokia can admit that it is in trouble in the developed world, and focus strictly on its competencies in producing functional smartphones at a low cost for the emerging market consumer. The latter two strategies hold the most promise. The company is profitable with its smartphone business, despite its low profile, but it cannot miss the next boat. Thus, Nokia needs to plus some of these profits back into its business and develop the next wave of mobile technology, be on the front end of that one so that it can leverage its brand and its internal capabilities.