Nokia Exec Disses iPhone, Android: Says Kids 'Fed Up, Confused'

In the hyper-competitive world of global smartphones, one never knows quite what to expect. But sentiments this week from a Nokia executive sharing thoughts on the iPhone and Android are a bit attention grabbing. Apple and Google, suggests the executive, aren't connecting with today's youth.

Niels Munksgaard, Nokia Director of Portfolio, Product Marketing and Sales, apparently said in an interview with Pocket-lint on Tuesday that young people today have had enough of the iPhone and are confused by Android phones.

What we see is that youth are pretty much fed up with iPhones, Munksgaard reportedly said in the interview. Everyone has the iPhone. Also, many are not happy with the complexity of Android and the lack of security.

Munksgaard also adds that young people today who want to be on the cutting edge and try something new are turning to the Windows phone platform.

Hmmm.

The Nokia executive didn't offer any statistics to back up his claims. And, no wonder, since statistics tell a very different story. Google's Android operating system has been puling away in smartphone marketshare in the U.S, claiming 40 percent or more. Then there's Apple, with its iPhone -- easily the single most popular iPhone product in the U.S. and in the world.

Apple recently launched its iPhone 4S and the product smashed all kinds of sales records, thanks in part to youth who snapped them up by the tens of thousands. In its fist week of taking preorders in October, for instance, Apple took in one million in a single day.

The first day preorders for iPhone 4S have been the most for any new product that Apple has ever launched, said Marketing VP Phil Schiller at the time. Schiiller said the company was blown away by response to its new smartphone.

And this was in October, just more than two months ago. Later, when iPhone 4S began in stores, the record-selling trend continued.

Yet Munksgaard wants the public to believe that the youth today are fed up with the iPhone and confused by Android and turning to the Windows phone platform when the numbers say something different. Data released in November by Gartner, for instance, noted that marketshare for Microsoft's Windows Phone handsets has fallen precipitously over the past year.

Gartner reported that Microsoft's marketshare dropped from 2.7 percent to 1.5 percent in the third quarter, compared to the same period the previous year. At the same time, Android's marketshare jumped from 25.3 percent to 532.5 percent, according to the report.