Posted by goldenface
Siemens Mobile looks like it is in trouble, with rumours of a possible merge with LG, Motorola or a Chinese operation, or possibly being shut down altogether.
I always thought Siemens handset were OK. Especially the recent ones.
Where do you guys think Siemens are going wrong? Why are they in trouble do you think?
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/84e4[....]8e-11d7-81c6-0820abe49a01.html
Is it just Nokia squeezing them out of the lower-end of the market?
Who do you think they should merge with?
[ This Message was edited by: goldenface on 2005-01-07 13:25 ]
[ This Message was edited by: goldenface on 2005-01-07 16:06 ]
Posted by masseur
Siemens are certanily very popular here in Germany and many of the people I work with use Siemens
Posted by Jim
Whow bad news !!!
Posted by *Jojo*
Siemens Mobile Fones did not click here in Manila, and perhaps in the Asian region as well
If ever, I guess it will be BEST, if they'll merge with - Motorola !
Posted by Jake Blues
i remember someone (axxxr?) mentioning a couple of weeks ago that siemens were going to decide sometime this year what to do with its mobile division, sell it, restructure or just shut it down.
imo its no great loss they never excited me in looks or useability. the best phone they had looks wise was that red one that slides down, dont know the model.
Posted by goldenface
The range and variety of handsets is not exactly mind-blowing is it? A few candybars and a slide design?
Being the 4th largest manufacturer you would have thought they would have a range at least as big as SE's
@Nature
Yeah that was the SL55. My friend had one and it looked tatty after about 2 weeks!
[ This Message was edited by: goldenface on 2005-01-07 13:55 ]
Posted by masseur
@nature, that'll probably be the SL55?
Posted by *Jojo*
The Siemens SL55 really is a small fone. I guess Siemens got the idea (shell) from that of Nokia's - 7650
Posted by PeterKay
Maybe
can help them out.......
SonyEricssonSiemens.com
Nah! Doesn't sound right.
Posted by Jake Blues
yea thats the one, although it looks much better in red.
edit: @peterkay S E S sounds all right though...
[ This Message was edited by: nature on 2005-01-07 14:06 ]
Posted by DeLa
They must have production inefficiencies. With their market share they should be able to make a profit one would think.
The brand name is strong (e.g. the succesfull product placement in the Ocean's twelve movie) so my guess is that they will put their production and R&D together with another manufacturer and re-brand their phones, including the Siemens interface (which a lot of people like and goes together with their unbeatable line of DECT-phones). A bit like Nokia does with their platform-system.
But we lack information. Why didn't the chinese company want to go ahead?
Posted by goldenface
@DeLa
I think the Chinese company just denied there were any links to Siemens - which is business lingo for "mind your own business"
Posted by thanasis
Nothing surprising in the news, i think it is has been a matter of time since last year before siemens mobile either merges (most likely scenario) or shuts down. The have been struggling for a while now, and their 65 series which they pinned lots of hopes on is not doing as well as initially predicted.
In the aggresively competitive phone market of the past few years, siemens has done very little to suggest that it could gain ground over its rivals. And to think that the Siemens chairman, two years ago, stated that siemens was ready for an aggressive push for second spot in the market!
Posted by chili
I feel that if Siemens only gave the SX1 a normal keypad, it would've been a bestseller and become their flagship. At the time of its release, its direct competitor was the 6600, which looks less classy, has no stereo output, has no hotswappable memory card, has no online firmware upgrade support, etc.
Posted by goldenface
@thanasis
I dont' seem to remember any agressive push from Siemens at any time.
Maybe the lower end of the market was just too crowded for them> I think they should have switched to mid-high end phones.
Samsung seem to have come a long way over the past couple of years, probably at the expense of Siemens.
[ This Message was edited by: goldenface on 2005-01-07 15:59 ]
Posted by kenzoden
Actually Nokia 7650 was "inspired" by Siemens very early S10 model.
The S10 was promoted in conjunction with Vanessa Mae's debut album a few years back.
In my opinion, Siemens Mobile lacked focus. Their product line are diverse but always a step behind other competitors. They have a good UI but let down by very very poor LCD quality, among the worst among all makers actually.
To get back on their feet, what they need now is a solid design with specs that would stand out in the crowd. In short, a Siemens "T610" if you will. Also, they need to work on controlling their expenses. By managing their expenses, it would turn them around.
They should learn from SE. After SE's formation, the company went out and bite the bullet.... the rest is recent history.
Posted by govigov
Something must be very wrong. Being the 4th largest they still cant make profits. How? Either they hired a very very bad marketing manager or the head honcho's account needs to be scrutinised.
Posted by OluYom
kenzoden's right about the 7650 being inspired by an original Siemens device, the S10. Siemens produces reliable phones but are almost always a step behind of the rave. When they came out with their 1st colour display (256 on the S55), other manufacturers had colour devices on the market for months & were then doing 4096. Same went for polyphonics & bluetooth.
Posted by vanquish
i know!
it could be a record breaking company, with siemens sony ericsson as the name lol
Posted by FutureDesign
One Q- who came up with that blasted name "siemens"
Posted by ThreeX
Actually it was the SL10, the father of all slide phones
I think itīs a pity if they have to close down, but on the other hand, they have brought it on themselves.. IMO failing to sense where the wind is blowing.
I find Siemens budget sets well above Nokia in performance, but teen buyers donīt even go skin deep, itīs like or diss ...
Posted by OluYom
It would be interesting to see SiemensMoto. @FutureDesign: I dont see anything the problem with the nam "Siemenns".
Posted by goldenface
@Future design. Siemens is a huge multinational who make everything from plant machinary to dentists chairs and domestic goods.
The design has always been spot on however, IMO they haven't been 100% commited to their mobiles. They have never been a market leader in that sector of the business. Like the article says, things are so bad that they may have to pay someone to take it away from them, if it doesn't close down altogether.
They might be successful in Europe but you need to be a global player in this day and age to be successful.
It is hard to imagine that Siemens will just "go away", I reckon a merger is on the cards, possibly with one of the smaller manufacturers. They should shack up with Philips.
I must say, I have never owned a Siemens mobile.
Posted by milmino
Siemens are always a little behind, quite the opposite of
I like phillips, & I wouldn't mind them merging with them since the companies are similar.
Posted by ori
I think SL55 is the best phone from Siemens ever! the design is incredible.
this is the one I do use. (photos made by me with Sony F828)
[ This Message was edited by: ori on 2005-01-09 17:47 ]
[ This Message was edited by: ori on 2005-01-09 17:50 ]
Posted by OluYom
@ori: That claim is disputable, you know. For example, the SL55's signal reception is one of the poorest among Siemens' lineup. The design is great though :)
Posted by fatreg
theres nowt wrong with the S65.
thats a damned good handset.
more of that and siemens will be away.
fatreg
Posted by umarino
Even if the siemens phones r good, they r one step back about technology. Colour display arrived after all others, the same for umts phones
Posted by LeeG
I think it would be a great shame if they go, never really liked the phones they made, but it would be one less comnpany pushing mobile tech, which i think would be sad !
Posted by fatreg
Id say there werent that far behind the rest of the mobile market,
slow? the SX1 was the first series 60 phone with hot swappable memory, and the mozzie game is to die for!
ease off folks. Siemens arent that bad, after all they did beat SE to the first ever colur phone, S25 had colours and that was a good few years before your T68 came out.
i happen to quite like Siemens phones as does Miss Uk, im sure she will back me up on this!
fatreg
Posted by mamba
The s55 is probably the best effort by siemens as i presume, very nice design and UI.
They probably lost by not improving on the s55,
s55i with 65k screen, mp3, video, mmc and mega cam would have kept them going.
Posted by OluYom
@fatreg: I am a great fan of Siemens, but truth is they are almost always playing catchup. @mamba: I quite agree with you; Siemens ought to have developed the S55 further. A couple of improvements esp. that screen & the audio; add a MMC slot or the like, and they would have a winner! Dont you just love that keyboard?!
Posted by goldenface
I would bank on Siemens hooking up with another manufacturer. After all, it has been done before as in SE.
Sharp looks like a good partner for them because the make savvy handsets for the far-eastern market although why Sharp would want to join them I can't say.
I suppose Siemens would need to find another "Ericsson" they way Sony has.