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Nokia is in crisis
FINNISH PHONE MAKER Nokia's CEO has sent out an internal memo in which he discussed the dire straits that the firm is in, and that has leaked to the Internet.
Stephen Elop, CEO of Nokia recently penned a memo about the company and its prospects that was meant for internal eyes only, but some untrustworthy person at the firm has leaked it out.
The memo, embarrassingly for Elop, has been reproduced by the Wall Street Journal. It paints a picture of a firm that is losing its relevancy and falling behind the competition. "[We] are standing on a 'burning platform,' and we must decide how we are going to change our behaviour...," he wrote. "And, we have more than one explosion - we have multiple points of scorching heat that are fuelling a blazing fire around us."
Some of that fire is coming from the competition, those vendors that saw what Nokia had been doing for years, ran with it and bested it. "There is intense heat coming from our competitors, more rapidly than we ever expected. Apple disrupted the market by redefining the smartphone and attracting developers to a closed, but very powerful ecosystem," he explained.
"And then, there is Android. In about two years, Android created a platform that attracts application developers, service providers and hardware manufacturers. Android came in at the high-end, they are now winning the mid-range," he further noted.
Elop added that Android will soon spread to low-end devices and hurt the firm there also, as will the Chinese who seem bent on doing what the other firms are doing, but better, quicker and cheaper.
"We fell behind, we missed big trends, and we lost time. At that time, we thought we were making the right decisions; but, with the benefit of hindsight, we now find ourselves years behind," he added.
Counter to this though, the firm appears to be ceasing development of a smarthphone running the Meego OS, according to a report at Reuters, making that software look dead in the water as well, with just one handset currently available.
This poor position could force some big changes at Nokia, as Elop hinted that he is ready to make it leap off the burning platform that he believes it is on.
Referring to a harrowing story about a North Sea oil platform explosion, Elop concluded, "The burning platform, upon which the man found himself, caused the man to shift his behaviour, and take a bold and brave step into an uncertain future. He was able to tell his story. Now, we have a great opportunity to do the same." µ
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- there are layoffs coming
- a chop and merge, possibly with MSFT is on cards.
Why did the press not pick this up when ELOP left MSFT and joined Nokia in September?
They hoped they would find a niche of consumers who prioritize substance over style.
Turns out such niche does exist, but it's too small and too unstable for any profitable business.
Nokia consumers are somewhat like Linux users, only that Linux is for free.
Quote - "Also it should invest in new features in symbian like tethering, copy and paste etc to keep it up to date"
Symbian has had tethering, copy and paste, etc for nearly 10 years!
This post sums up one of the big problems with Symbian, and it's nothing to do with the OS, it's purely that Symbian OS (remember OS != UI), despite being probably the most complete and advanced mobile OS available at the moment, has become uncool and as such everyone slates it without even knowing anything about it.
The other major problems (UI and app development) are being fixed via Qt and should vanish at some point this year. Whether Nokia can make Symbian cool again though (or even if it wants to) is yet to be seen. Let's see what Elop says on Friday.
Oh, and for all those that think that Elop is going to drop Symbian, read the transcript of the Q4 earnings call. Lots of positive talk about a product that he is thinking of dropping. It's more likely that he's going to radically shake up the development/management team and streamline the 5000+ people working on Symbian who are probably all getting in each others way and slowing down development.
Then again, what do I know.
Android can be safely put on top of Meego, but not on top of W7 foundation. As it's open source, it should not require agreement to do that. Using Android will not require to lost some control.
Silverlight and .NET can be put on top of Meego and probably on top of Android foundation. As it's closed source, agreement is required. This kind of agreement usually require to lost some control.
Qt is the default on Meego, supported on Symbian if this still matter to anyone, can be put on top of Android foundation and could probably be ported safely on top of W7 foundation as Qt already work on Windows.
So Nokia could maybe play all the cards. Maybe not at the same time as the run out of time.
Other way to think: Qt is potentially a big thread to Microsoft. Win32 is obsolete, .NET is not challenging Java, nor Silverlight is challenging Flash. Qt is actually a strong native cross platform API, open source, with commercial support, targeting as PC, netbook, handset and now tablet. Actually a unique position on the market. The Elop nomination by financials could be a way to protect Microsoft from Qt, or to control it quietly.
Nokia should stick to open source operating systems like Android or Meego etc if it wants to join another ecosystem. But in the meantime it should give all new phones its newest Symbian software , instead of the old S40 platform etc. Also it should invest in new features in symbian like tethering, copy and paste etc to keep it up to date and attract developers and more sales. I have not seen a single Nokia with tegra or snapdragon. Instead of being in bed with unreliable and untested Intel mobile processors, it should copy the success of HTC,Blackberry, Samsung & Apple in using ARM processors
yes, the N900, has linux, high res screen, pull out qwerty, all they need is to put it in a slim case!!!
those with more than a ew braincells will know it is the SOFTWARE that is nokias problem..
The HARDWARE has always been top-notch, as many owners will testify... the later designs are starting to show very bad decisions, though...
Why make a good phone that does not have a card slot?? If your old Nokia has 30G of albums, pics, and movies, you will not be able to use the new E7, first because it has not got a slot, and second because it only has 16G on board...
Fantastic camera, but too much spent on the casing, and too fancy OS, that needs much more CPU power to drive it...
Nokia needs to go back to the N900,
The old Windows Mobile 6.5 has about 2 percent of the worldwide smartphone market, which is double what Windows Phone 7 has. Therefore it would make more sense for Nokia to adopt Microsoft's older OS.
Rumor has it that Elop is being courted by Microsoft to use WP7 on his phones. I imagine a monetary inducement (ahem) is included, particularly if they sign some sort of illegal, anticompetitive Microsoft-penned agreement that they will never sell another single Android (or Meego) phone. Microsoft, after all, just loves to try and crush Linux whenever/wherever it can. And it loves to use money to corrupt others ("OOXML" was a shining example of that).
But then Elop should consider what has happened to every single company that has "partnered" with Microsoft (take Novell for example). Microsoft sucks the life out of them, and they often die. WP7 is "proven technology", as it has been "proven to fail" in its previous form of "Kin". It is also doing terribly in the marketplace, as people do not trust it (or Microsoft).
So ignoring Android (or Meego) -- given the current success of Linux in mobiles and tablets -- and becoming Balmer's bum(ble)-boy, is probably not going to help Nokia or its shareholders in the long run.
Is this Elop's "Ratner" moment? Why would anyone want to buy their current models if the CEO is saying that the competition is better?
iOS! Apple will never allow that. Their brand image is the most important thing to them - allowing iOS on another handset manufacturer's gear will degrade both Apple and Nokia's image. What about skinning - Apple barely allows changes on its iPhone, it wouldn't let Nokia do it - or people will start opting for Nokia over Apple...
Android is the only sensible course. It can be themed, it's regularly updated and it's far less hassle to implement it.
"Only a bunch of jokers would go with Windows."
A good fit for Nokia then :-))
Only a bunch of jokers would go with Windows.
Firstly, there's a M$ tax to pay.
Secondly, there's the substantial extra hardware hit (Intel processor and memory): that adds up to a competitive disadvantage.
Thirdly, most savvy punters know that Windows equals death.
They need a good OS, an App Store and a customer following. Licensing iOS would be good for Apple, Nokia and customers.
From what has been quoted, it is only what we have suspected and-or guessed given all the news around Nokia and not moving forward with a new Smartphone OS... I imaging Nokia will go Windows Phone 7 and Android. It is safe, yet I hope Nokia uses the openness of Android to their advantage, diversifying themselves by bring some of the more interesting things that were on their old OS to Android and WPh7 for that matter.
The sensational news coverage will make it seem like it was a secret to all. Many tech journalists and bloggers have been saying this for a while; this memo leak just sounds like a confirmation. Furthermore, it sounds more like a rally to get the company on track, a call to arms (being the armory is filled with ideas out of the box).
It is a shame if Meego will not have some support. Maybe they cannot afford the risk right now. Nevertheless, Meego, did really look like an interesting platform/OS. I hope Intel continues to push forward and finds more partners. I would not be upset if Intel diversifies as well with hardware running Android too. It is a business and as long we see some quality products, it will be a win for customers.
I totally disagree with people who might say there are too many OS's in the smartphone market. In that case, I say “there were already too many, but too many poorly supported SDKs for developing applications.” They were not "cool" and had little developer resources and a means for developers to make a business out of developing. Meaning they were not much of a platform until Apple disrupted the market.
It could not hurt to have another option - Competition keeps everyone on their toes and their nose clean as much as possible. Options can drive new development tools that are cross-platform. Think a .NET IDE for smartphone OS's... There are a few out there already.