Nokia + Microsot Good or Bad for Finland ?

[otyikondo]

There was an interesting article back in the October 2010 issue of Kuukausiliite, the monthly supplement of Helsingin Sanomat, titled Mokia (“Blunders”), where they interviewed 15 former Nokians about the issues in the organization and management. Unfortunately, the original story is not available for free viewing at this moment but there are a couple of articles in other media briefly covering the key points:

• 15 entistä nokialaista arvostelee Kallasvuota ja Ollilaa – HS:n Kuukausiliite penkoi Nokian 2000-luvun vaiheita (Tietokone)
• Matriisi murskasi mahtavan Nokian (Talouselämä)

Errr.. but it IS available, and has been so, in English, since October 5th last year.

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Knock+ ... 5260596609

As Sinikala pertinently pointed out on Page 1 of the "burning deck" thread.

[Jukka Aho]

Errr.. but it IS available, and has been so, in English, since October 5th last year.

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Knock+ ... 5260596609

As Sinikala pertinently pointed out on Page 1 of the "burning deck" thread.

Oh, OK. Missed that one. I read the original Finnish article in the “digipaper” edition of Kuukausiliite back in October when it was available for free for some reason. (It was either a campaign of some sort or available as a limited-time freebie due to printing or delivery problems they had had with the paper edition at the time.)

[tuulen]

For many years businesses had their own software to use on their own in-house computers, and hand-held devices were only telephones, but when hand-held devices became Internet-capable computers it became possible to further develop cloud computing, a matter of great interest to businesses. Cloud computing is now where the big development money is going. Nokia might not survive if it continued to manufacture only telephones, and a business merger with one of the leading cloud developers enables Nokia to survive.

Yet, it is a shame that so much of Nokia's OS development could now be sidelined and eventually lost, including a small army of software developers. It is worthy to speculate, however, that a need for operating systems will not become obsolete in the future, and that this is the time to consider preserving all of Nokia's OS development, but unfortunately that seems highly unlikely as long as Nokia is tied to Microsoft. Therefore, this is the time for a new business management team to purchase Nokia's OS development, as a separate business. As a uniquely Finnish business, perhaps the government of Finland could now help to preserve a valuable future asset, by helping to arrange for a new business management team.

[flyingyellowpig]

For many years businesses had their own software to use on their own in-house computers, and hand-held devices were only telephones, but when hand-held devices became Internet-capable computers it became possible to further develop cloud computing, a matter of great interest to businesses. Cloud computing is now where the big development money is going. Nokia might not survive if it continued to manufacture only telephones, and a business merger with one of the leading cloud developers enables Nokia to survive.

Yet, it is a shame that so much of Nokia's OS development could now be sidelined and eventually lost, including a small army of software developers. It is worthy to speculate, however, that a need for operating systems will not become obsolete in the future, and that this is the time to consider preserving all of Nokia's OS development, but unfortunately that seems highly unlikely as long as Nokia is tied to Microsoft. Therefore, this is the time for a new business management team to purchase Nokia's OS development, as a separate business. As a uniquely Finnish business, perhaps the government of Finland could now help to preserve a valuable future asset, by helping to arrange for a new business management team.

If I understood It right , Are you saying that they should try to save Symbian ? Why would someone save it ? Symbian it's useless. It's one of the ugliest OS I have seen There is MeeGo or Maemo which on opinion should be saved. I think Nokia could have look to something else than WP7. I don't also Android would be the best choice . Because Nokia wouldn't a chance against Motorola, Samsung and HTC .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_operating_system

[Suitsuke]

My wife and I both have Samsung phones. I have an F480i and she has something else from Finland, mine is from Australia. I have the latest firmware on mine, (not the boring basic white colour background garbage). My phone cost $150 and for a phone without half of the things mine can do from Nokia costs the same.

Both of us would love to support Nokia and buy our next phone from them. As long as they come up with something decent for once... those little touch phones that they have with resistive touch screens that you have to scratch your finger against are impossible to use. Albeit they look pretty amazing and have a lot of appeal. However I need a capacitive touch screen, one that reacts off electrical signals in your skin. Something smooth and swift to use... even something heat sensitive would be ok I guess.. though those are pretty unreliable and don't have much accuracy.

TL;DR version:

If Nokia makes a phone that can stand up to other touch phones I'll buy one. As long as it doesn't cost an arm and a leg...

[maxxfi]

Symbian it's useless. It's one of the ugliest OS I have seen

Symbian != UI

[AldenG]

Time for Plan B?

Netissä kootaan kannatusta Nokian Microsoft-sopimuksen kaatamiseksi

In short, cancel the Microsoft agreement in the shareholders' meeting in May, fire Elop and three others in critical positions, adopt Meego, and center development in two locations, with one of them in Finland.

In particular, they say that being a low-margin vanilla handset provider is no direction for a company like Nokia.

If I were a shareholder, I'd vote for it. I mean, you know, sometimes you just have to jump off a burning platform. Or even vote a few people off the island. Or burn the Trojan horse.

[Jukka Aho]

Time for Plan B?

• Nokia Plan A
• Nokia Plan B
• Nokia Plan C
• Nokia Plan D
• Nokia Plan E
• Nokia Plan ET
• Nokia Plan F
• Nokia Plan G
• Nokia Plan H
• Nokia Plan K
• Nokia Plan M
• Nokia Plan O
• Nokia Plan P
• Nokia Plan Q
• Nokia Plan S
• Nokia Plan T
• Nokia Plan X
• Nokia Plan Y
• Nokia Plan Z
• Nokia Plan 0
• Nokia Plan 5
• Nokia Plan 9

[Suitsuke]

adopt Meego, and

Take that approach and Nokia would be out of business by the end of the week... No one except you would use Meego...

As for the plethora of links left by Jukka all I have to say is LOL

[AldenG]

Anybody else see this being bad news for Qt down the road a bit? I think MS would like to find a way to own Nokia (and not just pwn it, as now). And Ballmer has a pathological hatred of the entire notion of open-source. He'd love not just to sell the Qt division but to annihilate it, burn it, and send the ashes out into space.

[pres589]

adopt Meego, and

Take that approach and Nokia would be out of business by the end of the week... No one except you would use Meego...

Kind of like how no one is using WM7?

Android is a generic OS and I think Nokia using it would have made them a generic handset manufacturer ala HTC. Leaving Symbian seems fine, abandoning the Meego effort seems odd though and if WM7 becomes decent through development it's just as bad as going to Android + dev time & cost. So it's generic, generic on a wing & a prayer, or a home-grown effort with assistance from Intel. I'd vote for the latter.

[AldenG]

And just on general principle, I think it should be obvious that low-margin markets of any kind are the last place where "the best and the brightest" ever belong. I'm not saying whether or not Nokia remains among the best and the brightest because I honestly don't know. But if that's how it continues to see itself, then I would think that the survival of that identity depends completely on evolving its business model to keep it in areas of activity where there is room for technological brilliance and originality to flourish.

Of course that's the great paradox of success built on brilliance. It's just not that scalable. You can't hire only the 1-in-10,000 individuals when you become so successful you're employing more than 0.01% of the population. Or even 1-in-1,000 and 0.1%. That's a numerical simplification, of course, but the principle is rock solid.

It's also remarkable to me that Microsoft, which has always pushed to stay in high-margin activities, at least high for a semi-mass market, thinks it has a serious place in mobile. There's no way they could reach Ballmer's target of -- what was it? about 300? -- dollars per user per year that each and every one of us PC users is expected to fatten his coffers with.

You could be right about Meego, Suitsuke, I'm not familiar with it. But a Nokia-MS partnership leads only in one direction, I think. And not a good one for Nokia or for Finland.

By the way, how did that Mikrolink Oy - Microsoft relationship ever turn out in the end? Or was it Microlink with a c, I can't quite remember.

I'm not anti-Microsoft per se. But I am pro-Finland and against the homogenization that comes with mergerism and the resultant gigantism. We already see what a dreadful thing that has become for the US way of life.

[Suitsuke]

adopt Meego, and

Take that approach and Nokia would be out of business by the end of the week... No one except you would use Meego...

Kind of like how no one is using WM7?

Pretty much. But I think that Nokia is waaaay past the point of being able to design their own OS without some serious funding/help/prayers. So it's up to them to partner up with someone and hope that they can 'share the load' at least while the salt in the seawater is a bit hard to handle.

I agree with whats-his-face up there who said just fire the top 3 men in power and employ someone decent in their places.. I'm sure someone can dig Nokia out of the hole it's slowly burying itself in.. they DID start off the whole 'mobile phone' franchise after all, that will always count for something. Unless they're bankrupt, it would be a national humiliation.

I'll support Nokia asap but I doubt I can do anything as 1 little customer.

[maxxfi]

By the way, how did that Mikrolink Oy - Microsoft relationship ever turn out in the end? Or was it Microlink with a c, I can't quite remember.

That's what worries me the most about this 'strategic decision' (oh BTW, shortly before this announcement Nokia did confirm
to still have a 'strategic partnership' with Intel regarding Meego...), that every partnership with Microsoft has ended badly,
and sometimes even in court, like the case I mentioned before about UK firm Sendo: they were the chosen partner by MS to launch the then-newborn Windows Mobile, but after delays on both sides, partnership broke and Sendo has been sued to bankrupt by MS, plus stripped of all their prototypes, and other reserved development material, which have been given to HTC.
HTC then completed the project but then refused to carry on with the WM following edition, and jumped as soon as possible to Android.
And that's not the only case, there is also Nortel, Motorola, Palm, LG... long list.

[jmakinen]

Seems to have been planned a while ago

Vice President Joe Biden will visit Finland, Russia and Moldova next month to meet with national leaders to discuss regional issues and topics of mutual interest to the United States.

The White House said Wednesday that the vice president will travel with his wife, Jill Biden, on the week of March 7.

A White House statement said Biden will build on warmer relations between the U.S. and Russia, and consult with Finnish leaders on common priorities.

The State Department says that Finland's high-tech sector has been attractive to U.S. investors.