4 ms·

Sounds similar to how Microsoft killed Nokia.

StressedDev 3y ago
Please stop spreading unfounded rumors or speculation. Microsoft's failed partnership and acquisition of Nokia was not a conspiracy. My guess is the failure occurred because of bad luck, incompetence, and politics. I believe MS lost $7.5 billion on it.
rhaway84773 3y ago
The difference is that there’s no evidence that he did anything out of the ordinary at Flexport. In the Nokia scenario, however, Elop published a memo which destroyed Nokia’s declining but still substantial business overnight (that memo alone probably cost Nokia hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in revenue…revenue they simply could not afford to lose), torpedoed the in-house effort Nokia had been working on and had ready to go, and worst of all, when choosing the external platform to depend on instead, chose the one that was not even close to being the market leader, did not allow Nokia anywhere near the same level of control or customization as the market leader, provided Nokia no input on the future of Windows Phone, and as a result predictably made Nokia phones almost exactly the same as rhe no name Chinese phones that were the only other phone makers using Windows Phone. In Nokia’s case the simplest explanation for all these actions was a conspiracy. There’s no good way to explain Elop’s actions otherwise without doubting his mental acuity.
- hedora 3y ago
  Nokia had far better cameras, etc. at the time. They wanted to compete on hardware quality. It might have worked if Ballmer was still in charge. Nadella’s been heavily prioritizing cloud over operating systems platforms, though. It was unclear MS would do that back when Nokia bet on windows phone.
- alephnerd 3y ago
  The Elop story is also a conspiracy theory. Multiple then Nokia execs have come on the record about how while the decisions Elop made were in hindsight stupid, they at least made sense at the time. Read "Transforming Nokia", "The Decline and Fall of Nokia", and "Operation Elop" to have a look inside Nokia at the time. Alternatively, talk to PMs and BDs who are ex-Nokia - there are plenty that still roam the Bay Area at top Infra, Cloud, and Security companies.

Please stop spreading unfounded rumors or speculation. Microsoft's failed partnership and acquisition of Nokia was not a conspiracy. My guess is the failure occurred because of bad luck, incompetence, and politics. I believe MS lost $7.5 billion on it.

rhaway84773 3y ago

The difference is that there’s no evidence that he did anything out of the ordinary at Flexport. In the Nokia scenario, however, Elop published a memo which destroyed Nokia’s declining but still substantial business overnight (that memo alone probably cost Nokia hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in revenue…revenue they simply could not afford to lose), torpedoed the in-house effort Nokia had been working on and had ready to go, and worst of all, when choosing the external platform to depend on instead, chose the one that was not even close to being the market leader, did not allow Nokia anywhere near the same level of control or customization as the market leader, provided Nokia no input on the future of Windows Phone, and as a result predictably made Nokia phones almost exactly the same as rhe no name Chinese phones that were the only other phone makers using Windows Phone. In Nokia’s case the simplest explanation for all these actions was a conspiracy. There’s no good way to explain Elop’s actions otherwise without doubting his mental acuity.

hedora 3y ago
Nokia had far better cameras, etc. at the time. They wanted to compete on hardware quality. It might have worked if Ballmer was still in charge. Nadella’s been heavily prioritizing cloud over operating systems platforms, though. It was unclear MS would do that back when Nokia bet on windows phone.
alephnerd 3y ago
The Elop story is also a conspiracy theory. Multiple then Nokia execs have come on the record about how while the decisions Elop made were in hindsight stupid, they at least made sense at the time. Read "Transforming Nokia", "The Decline and Fall of Nokia", and "Operation Elop" to have a look inside Nokia at the time. Alternatively, talk to PMs and BDs who are ex-Nokia - there are plenty that still roam the Bay Area at top Infra, Cloud, and Security companies.